Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon made a point of emphasizing rebounding after his Panthers were shocked by Hawaii Saturday morning.
His players got the message.
Derrick Randall set a Maui Invitational record with 21 rebounds, Michael Young grabbed 15 while scoring 27 points and Pittsburgh rode a dominating performance on the glass to beat host Chaminade 81-68 Monday in the opening round of the Maui Invitational.
The Swords are a much smaller team than Pitt (3-1), but it was an impressive effort nonetheless on the glass as Pitt outrebounded Chaminade 51-17 on the night, grabbing 27 offensive rebounds in the process.
After allowing Hawaii to shoot over 50 percent from the floor, Pitt allowed the Swords to shoot 51 percent, including draining 11-of-27 shots from behind the arc, but the work on the glass proved to be the difference.
The Panthers shot 46 percent (29-for-63) from the floor on the night and knocked down 7-of-17 (41.2 percent) three-point attempts.
In addition to a big scoring day from Young, James Robinson added 17 points, Randall 11 and Josh Newkirk 10 for the Panthers.
Pitt missed 12 of their first 16 shots to open the game and the scrappy Swords hung in there, but the size difference got Pitt going as they were able to capitalize on 34 second-chance points. That was good enough to take a 42-31 lead at the half.
Chaminade made a run after Pitt went up by 17 early in the second half, but could only get the lead down to 10 as Pitt found their shooting rhythm, making 12-of-23 shots in the second half.
Pitt will play No. 15 San Diego State in the second round of the tournament Tuesday at 10 pm EST after the Aztecs defeated BYU 92-87 in first round action.
Photo Credit: ESPN
