Nasir Robinson scored 13 points, including the first nine of the second half for Pitt, to lead the Panthers in a 71-64 win over St. John's on Saturday afternoon at their home away from home, Madison Square Garden.
The Panthers (22-7, 11-5 Big East) could not pull away from the pesky Red Storm (15-13, 5-11 Big East), but nursed a lead in the neighborhood of 10 points for most of the game.
Jamie Dixon got 13 points from Gilbert Brown and 12 from Ashton Gibbs in another balanced Pitt offensive "attack", if that's the correct word. But Gibbs was shut out in the first half and ended up scoring seven of his 12 points from the foul line in the final 58 seconds. He's going to have to lift his output if this team wants to make a serious push in the postseason.
The Panthers were outrebounded 34-28 and committed more turnovers than the Johnnies, but this was an opponent that simply has no firepower. St. John's has scored more than 70 points only four times in 15 Big East contests this season, and was stuck on eight points until the 9:15 mark of the first half in this game. With their offensive ineptitude and the Pitt's defensive excellence, this was a game the Panthers had to win.
The Panther winds down the regular season with two games this week - both at the Pete - against Providence (12-15, 4-11) on Thursday and Rutgers (14-14. 4-11) on Saturday. Counting today's game, Pitt is closing the conference schedule with games against three of the four worst teams in the league - certainly a bonus with conference tournament seeding on the line.
Jamie Dixon got 13 points from Gilbert Brown and 12 from Ashton Gibbs in another balanced Pitt offensive "attack", if that's the correct word. But Gibbs was shut out in the first half and ended up scoring seven of his 12 points from the foul line in the final 58 seconds. He's going to have to lift his output if this team wants to make a serious push in the postseason.
The Panthers were outrebounded 34-28 and committed more turnovers than the Johnnies, but this was an opponent that simply has no firepower. St. John's has scored more than 70 points only four times in 15 Big East contests this season, and was stuck on eight points until the 9:15 mark of the first half in this game. With their offensive ineptitude and the Pitt's defensive excellence, this was a game the Panthers had to win.
The Panther winds down the regular season with two games this week - both at the Pete - against Providence (12-15, 4-11) on Thursday and Rutgers (14-14. 4-11) on Saturday. Counting today's game, Pitt is closing the conference schedule with games against three of the four worst teams in the league - certainly a bonus with conference tournament seeding on the line.
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1 comment:
I was at the game today. Pitt looked like they were sleepwalking all game, but St. John's just isn't that good. The loudest the crowd got was for the t-shirt toss and the youth basketball game at halftime. It was that kind of day.
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