In the first ACC game in the history of the Petersen Events Center, the Pitt Panthers had their hands full with Maryland for much of the night.
But used a late first half surge to pull ahead for good and ultimately improve to 2-0 in the conference with a convincing 79-59 victory over the Terps.
Both teams found things tough early on as neither team got much in their half court sets. But Pitt closed the first half on an 11-2 run to take a 36-30 lead into the locker room.
Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon Pitt used a lineup that spread the floor, giving Lamar Patterson and Durand Johnson room to work. Patterson kept the Panthers in the game early on after Maryland got off to a hot start, scoring 12 of his 19 points in the first half. Pitt (14-1, 2-0) also got a big lift from Johnson, who scored 10 first-half points off the bench, draining a pair of shots from behind the arc.
The Panthers shot 50 percent from the floor during the games’ first 20 minutes and only turned the ball over three times, which proved big.
Senior Lamar Patterson kept the Panthers in the game early on, scoring 12 of his 19 points in the first half. Pitt (14-1, 2-0) also got a big lift from Johnson, who scored 10 first-half points off the bench, draining a pair of shots from behind the arc.
Maryland led 26-23 with 6 minutes left in the half when Johnson got rolling.
Johnson’s first-half performance earned him a start in the second half and he rewarded Dixon by scoring a quick five points, including another three, which stretched Pitt’s lead from three to six at 43-37.
Pitt had their troubles rebounding and defending the perimeter as they were outrebounded by six in the first half and allowed the Terps to knock down four shots from behind the arc.
They corrected those problems in the second half as the Panthers held a plus-nine advantage on the glass and even thought the Terps canned four more shots from behind the arc, Maryland (10-6, 2-1) made only 8-of-25 attempts from long range on the night.
After that the Panthers took off, using a 15-7 second-half burst to build a 13-point lead, then pulled away, outscoring Maryland 36-22 the rest of the way.
The Panthers upped the lead to 55-44 on a 3-pointer by Josh Newkirk and the Terrapins never got within single digits the rest of the way.
Pitt finished the night shooting an impressive 53.7 percent (29-for-55) from the floor, draining 6-of-10 shots from three-point range.
Johnson finished with a career-high 17 points. Senior Talib Zanna chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds in the win.
The Terps were led by guard Seth Allen, who finished with 18 points.
The Panthers are off until Saturday when they play host to Wake Forest.
Photo Credit: Associated Press
