Jamel Artis scored a game-high 22 points- 17 in the second half- to lead Pitt past visiting Morehead State 72-62 Sunday at the Petersen Events Center. The game was Pitt’s second contest as part of the Gotham Classic.
The 22 points for Artis was a season high and was his second 20-point game of the season and the ninth of his career
Pitt (8-1) leaned on its dynamic duo of Artis and Michael Young in the win. Young finished with 20 points on the afternoon, 16 coming in the first half.
The Panthers started slow for a change and Morehead State led 14-10 just 10 minutes into the game as Pitt started just 4-of-11 from the floor and had some issues taking care of the ball.
But the Panthers got things together and took a 35-28 lead into halftime.
Pitt opened the second half with a big run and pushed their lead to 19 early in the second half.
Brent Arrington scored 13 points while Corban Collins and Lyonell Gaines each added 11 to lead Morehead State (5-3).
The Panthers have now won seven of their nine games by 10 or more points.
Grinding it out- The 72 points seems like a low scoring game for the Panthers as they have scored 80-plus in their past three games and came into the game leading the ACC by scoring over 87 points per contest.
It was only the second time all season the Panthers have failed to eclipse the 80-point plateau. Pitt was still impressive at times offensively as Morehead State entered the game ranked 16th nationally in allowing 59.9 points per game.
The Panthers have scored 768 points on the year, the most over the opening nine games of the season during the Jamie Dixon era.
Turning up the D- While the Panthers came out firing on all cylinders to begin the second half, the effort on defense was big as well, holding Morehead State to just 2-of-12 shooting in the first nine minutes of the second half.
Pitt also held a 37-28 rebounding edge.
Getting it done from the stripe- While Pitt only shot 46 percent from the floor, which while solid is a low number for them recently, they made up for it from the free-throw line. The Panthers made 29-of-36 (81 percent) of their free-throws on the afternoon.
This comes one game after knocking down 22-of-27 attempts from the charity stripe against Eastern Washington.
Young tied a career high with 12 makes from the stripe. Artis also matched a career high with 10 made free throws.
Up Next- Pitt is off until next Sunday when they take on Davidson at Madison Square Garden as part of the Gotham Classic.
Photo Credit: USA Today Sports
