Men’s Basketball: Pitt surges past Cincinnati

Sparked by a dominating second half, the Pitt men’s basketball team rallied past Cincinnati for its 20th win of the season.

With the 62-52 win at the Fifth Third Arena, the Panthers have now won three in a row and seven of their last eight. Cincinnati has now lost two in a row after falling to Providence last Wednesday.

In Pitt’s last contest against Cincinnati, the Bearcats rallied in the second half for the win. This time, Pitt flipped the script, outscoring Cincinnati 36-21 in the second half to earn the impressive road victory.

But it didn’t look promising for the visiting team in the early stages.

Pitt came out sloppy as the Bearcats (18-6, 6-5 Big East) grabbed a 21-13 lead after a Sean Kilpatrick jumper with about eight minutes remaining in the first half. Kilpatrick, a junior guard, led Cincinnati with 16 points.

The Panthers (20-5, 8-4 Big East) fought back to tie it at 21, but Cincinnati punched right back, taking a 31-26 lead into halftime.

Steven Adams started out the scoring in the second half with a layup, setting the tone for the rest of the game. The freshman center was key in sparking Pitt, finishing his chances and spreading out the offense. Adams finished with 13 points, shooting 5-for-6 from the field and 3-for-4 from the line.

Pitt cut the lead to one point with 17 minutes left, but the Bearcats struck back, getting the lead back up to five with 14 minutes left.

After shedding the lead to three points or less multiple times, Pitt finally tied it up with seven minutes left on a Tray Woodall 3-pointer. The senior point guard led Pitt with 14 points off of 4-for-8 shooting. All four of his baskets were from beyond the arc.

Then a layup by junior guard Trey Zeigler gave Pitt the lead, but Cincinnati counter punched to take the lead back at 48-47 with five minutes remaining.

But that’s the last lead the Bearcats would get.

Woodall hit another clutch 3-pointer to put Pitt up 54-48, and then redshirt junior forward Talib Zanna converted a dunk off a nifty pass from Adams. Zanna just missed a double-double, accumulating 11 points and nine rebounds.

Pitt’s comeback was fueled by its stingy defense, holding Cincinnati without a field goal over the final nine minutes and 21 seconds. Over this stretch, Cincinnati missed its last 14 shots, dropping them to 30.8 percent from the field, a season low.

Cincinnati’s star guards, Kilpatrick and Cashmere Wright, both shot poorly. Kilpatrick shot 5-for-15, while Wright shot 2-for-12.

For the fifth game in a row, Pitt won the battle on the boards, out-rebounding Cincinnati 29-28. Pitt has only lost once, against Louisville, when out-rebounding the opposition.

The Panthers don’t play again until Saturday when the face ranked Marquette at 1 p.m. on the road. Pitt lost to Marquette at home in a dramatic overtime contest when the two teams met in January.