Basketball: Panthers prevail, dominate Wofford

The Pitt men’s basketball team defeated Wofford 81-63 in the first round of the CBI tournament… Before Wednesday night’s first-round CBI tournament game against Pitt, Wofford head coach Mike Young said he and his players felt good about their chances — until he looked up at the scoreboard.

“We felt we had a good plan,” Young said. “We were all fired up. Then right before the game, I looked at the scoreboard and saw that the Panthers had lost 19 times in [the Petersen Events Center] in 11 years. Wasn’t sure our chances were very good after seeing that statistic.”

Young’s hunch proved true as the Pitt men’s basketball team made a season-high 14 3-pointers en route to an 81-63 victory against Wofford. But the Panthers didn’t get much support from the Oakland Zoo: Attendance at the game was a meager 1,449.

Sophomore J.J. Moore, who scored a game-high 16 points for the Panthers, said that he hardly noticed the sea of empty blue seats.

“I got the energy from my team — on the bench and on the court,” Moore said. “We had our true fans there, so no matter what, they’re behind us.”

Wofford kept the game close for the first five minutes. But Travon Woodall’s 3-pointer at the 15-minute mark of the first half ignited a seven-minute run during which Pitt (18-16, 5-13 Big East) scored 16 unanswered points. Woodall finished with 16 points and nine assists.

The teams then traded buckets until the half’s last minute, when Moore knocked down two 3-pointers — the second from a step inside half-court — in the last 26 seconds to give the Panthers a 42-21 halftime lead.

“I was just feeling it today, and it showed on the court,” Moore said.

The Panthers shot 57 percent from the field and 58 percent from the 3-point line in the first half.

Wofford performed significantly worse, shooting 9 for 31 — a dismal 29 percent — in the first half. Drew Crowell was the only player to make multiple shots. The senior had nine points at halftime and 16 for the game.

But Young’s rousing halftime speech instilled new life in his team, although he declined to go into detail about the speech. “I don’t think it’d be appropriate for me to tell you what I told my team at the half,” he said.

Whatever it was, it worked.

Wofford mounted a run of its own as the Terriers raced out to a 24-9 advantage in the first eight minutes of the second half. Pitt’s lead shrunk to six points.

“That was a game of runs,” redshirt sophomore Lamar Patterson said. “They have shooters that can get hot, and they were able to hit.”

Yet once again, Moore stepped up for the Panthers.

The forward connected twice from long range on consecutive possessions to extend Pitt’s lead to 12 points.

Wofford never recovered.

Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said that his players were adamant about continuing their season in the CBI after failing to receive a bid to the NIT or the NCAA Tournament.

“They responded well,” Dixon said of his team. “You don’t know what’s going to happen in a game like this. You wonder if guys are going to look for their own. You just don’t know. Obviously, we haven’t been in this situation, and after what we did [tonight], I’m very proud of our guys. It’s good to see some young guys getting better.”

Young added that after seeing Pitt’s young players firsthand, he thinks the Panthers will return to prominence next year.

“Oh, I don’t think there’s any question,” he said. “This is a blip on the screen for them.”

Pitt will face Princeton at home on Monday night in the CBI quarterfinals.