Coming off their best win of the season Saturday against Syracuse, No. 23 Pitt had to be careful not to fall victim to the classic “trap game” Monday night against the struggling Seton Hall Pirates.
For 30 minutes, they nearly fell into that trap.
The Panthers broke open a 36-34 game at the 10 minute mark of the second half, by going on a 20-12 run to escape with a 56-46 win to improve to 19-5 on the season and 7-4 in Big East Conference play.
Pitt had problems getting into a rhythm for most of the night, but figured things out down the stretch and have now won six of their past seven games.
Lamar Patterson scored 12 points and grabbed 10 rebounds and freshman center Steven Adams added eight points, a career-high 15 rebounds and two blocks for the Panthers, but it may have been reserve guard Cameron Wright who made the biggest impact.
Wright scored six of his eight points during a game-ending 18-8 surge that prevented Pitt from having a major letdown.
Seton Hall led 39-38 midway through the second half, but the Panthers started executing at the offensive end of the floor while their defense took over. The Pirates, who shot only 33 percent for the game, made only two shots from the floor over the final 10 minutes, with one being a meaningless dunk at the end of the game.
Fuquan Edwin led the Pirates (13-10, 2-8) with 23 points, but was ineffective during the second half after suffering an injury.
In addition to Patterson’s 12, senior point guard Tray Woodall scored 11 for the Panthers, who shot only 34.8 percent from the field on the night, but saved their best for last.
Once again, a big part of the Pitt win was due to their rebounding as the Panthers outrebounded the Pirates 38-27 on the night.
Pitt got out to a 10-3 lead in the first half before going scoreless over six minute stretch and struggled for most of the half, heading into the locker room tied at 24.
But Dixon’s squad picked things up in every part of the game down the stretch and ended up cruising to another win, although this one was much closer than the 10-point margin would indicate.
Even though the Panthers are on a roll right now in conference play, they will have to be better on Saturday when they travel to No. 17 Cincinnati.
Photo Credit: Associated Press
