Pitt men’s basketball clinches third place in 2K Classic against Marquette, 78-75

The Panthers captured third place in the 2K Classic at Madison Square Garden after barely managing a 78-75 victory against Marquette on Friday afternoon.

Pitt (3-1) gave up a dominating lead to Marquette (2-2) in the first half, but senior Michael Young came back to pull the Panthers ahead in the second half of play.

The game started with both teams trying to stay within a two-point margin of each other.

Marquette sophomore Haanif Cheatham scored first off a steal from Pitt. Senior Jamel Artis followed up for the Panthers with a rebound shot off of Sheldon Jeter’s three-point attempt, with little resistance from the Golden Eagle defense.

Both teams’ senior leaders — Golden Eagle Luke Fischer and Panther Michael Young — struggled to get any points on the board. The offensive pace was quick to start the game but showed little results for either team.

With 16:25 left in the first half, Pitt substituted in junior Ryan Luther and first-year Justice Kithcart, but Marquette made back-to-back scores before the first media timeout to get a one-point advantage of 8-7.

Artis tallied the first three-point score of the game, followed by a layup by Young, to help the Panthers take the lead 12-8.

After a few exchanges of layups and free throws, Marquette led 22-21. This score held for three minutes until Golden Eagle Duane Wilson made a three-point jumper with a little over five minute left in the half.

Marquette’s biggest problem in their semifinal game against Michigan the previous day came down to having physically smaller players than their opposition. But in this game, that didn’t stop 5-foot-10 Andrew Rowsey from making a big impact for the Golden Eagles.

Rowsey helped the Golden Eagles on their following seven-point run with a three-pointer, layup and assist, to get Marquette a ten-point lead at 37-27.

Artis and Young collected a pair of free throws each, but the half ended with the Golden Eagles holding a 44-33 advantage at the end of the half.

Not wanting to give up their 11-point lead, Golden Eagle Katin Reinhardt started off the second half with a three-point jumper assisted by Rowsey.

Jeter’s made the next three-point contribution for the Panthers, but later collected his fourth foul allowing Reinhardt to make two free throws to bring the score to 52-41.

With under 17 minutes left of play, Young started to take the led for the Panthers. Using his versatile skill set, he tallied the next 12 points for Panthers to tie the score at 59, leading Marquette to call a timeout with a little over 10 minutes left on the clock.

Rowsey tried to keep the advantage for the Golden Eagles with two three-point jumpers, but Pitt finally took the lead back 68-65 on the back of a layup and jumper by Artis.

Play continued back-and-forth until a controversial shot-clock call, resulting in a foul on Pitt redshirt senior Chris Jones, allowed Rowsey to take three free throws to tie the game at 75 with 2:24 left in the game.

Artis got a free throw on a Pittsburgh deadball, but later sealed the win with back-to-back free throws after a foul on Marquette first-year Sam Hauser.

The top scorers for the Panthers were Artis with 19 points and Young with a career-high of 30 points.

The Panthers will return home to the Petersen Events Center to square off against Yale on Nov. 22 at 7 p.m.