Men’s basketball: Panthers cruise past Rider

Brad Wanamaker struggled against Duquesne on Wednesday. A player who usually fills the stat… Brad Wanamaker struggled against Duquesne on Wednesday. A player who usually fills the stat sheet with points and assists instead turned the ball over seven times and scored only four points while battling foul trouble.

Luckily for the Pitt men’s basketball team, Wanamaker isn’t a player who dwells on bad performances.

He put his foul-riddled game against the Dukes behind him as soon as the final buzzer sounded and came out ready to play against Rider (5-4, 1-1 MAAC) on Saturday, leading the No. 3 Panthers (9-0) to an 87-68 victory with 16 points, 11 assists, no turnovers and five rebounds.

“I was just worried about the next game and being a better player for my team,” he said after the game. “Duquesne is behind me and I’m moving on. It’s a long season, I had a tough one, but there’s a lot of season left for me to improve.”

Head coach Jamie Dixon didn’t doubt that Wanamaker would bounce back against the Broncs.

“I didn’t even give it a second thought,” he said about the Duquesne game after Saturday’s game. “He got the two fouls early, fouls can change a guy’s game and how they play. You can throw that one out the window and I have more faith in him with what he’s done over his career.”

Wanamaker led the Panthers in assists in a game where the team put on a clinic with its unselfishness. At the break, Pitt had 14 assists on 16 field goals. The Panthers finished tied with a season-high 27 assists on 31 field goals.

Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey said Pitt does a nice job of playing off each other.

“They continue to run their stuff, they don’t settle,” he said after the game. “You have to continue to guard for 20-25 seconds. Their shot selection is very good, their pass selection is very good…They never make your defensive possession easy by throwing one pass and launching a shot.”

Making the extra pass was a focus at the Panthers’ practices this week, Wanamaker said.

“We were showing what was preached in practice,” he said. “We’re finding the open guys [and] they are hitting shots.”

The Panthers used two first-half runs to pull away from Rider. Down 7-2 five minutes into the game, Pitt utilized a three minute, 9-0 run, that included four points from Gilbert Brown, to take the 11-7 lead.

The Broncs fought back, with Mike Ringgold making a shot inside to cut the score to 13-11, but Pitt answered with its second run of the half, a 16-4 spurt that stretched the lead to 29-15.

A Brandon Penn three-pointer with 12.5 seconds left trimmed Pitt’s lead to 40-29, but Taylor answered at the other end, hitting a lay-up with three seconds left to send the Panthers into the break with a 42-29 advantage.

Nine Panthers scored in the first half, with every player who saw the floor except freshman J.J. Moore contributing at least two points.

Ringgold led all-scorers at the break with 14 points. He went 7-of-8 from the field, hitting more than half of Rider’s field goals.

Pitt extended its lead to 21 points early in the second half. Thirty seconds into the half, Brown found Wanamaker on a breakaway dunk and Gibbs followed with a long two. After Justin Robinson answered with two free throws for Rider, Gibbs hit a baseline three.

The Broncs attempted to climb back into the game with four straight points from Robinson and Penn, but Lamar Patterson hit a three, Talib Zanna and Wanamaker made a total of three foul shots and then Wanamaker added two more points to make the score 57-36.

Rider didn’t get much closer for the rest of the game.

The Bronc’s Robinson, who entered the game 52 percent from three and as the team’s leading scorer at 15.5 points per game, was held scoreless in the first half, going 0-8 from the field, including 0-4 from three. He finished the game with 11 points on 3-14 shooting and 2-8 from beyond the arc.

“They were really focused on him,” Dempsey said. “He missed some decent shots, but he never really got any clean looks. That’s just a credit to them.”

Dempsey said Robinson’s lack of scoring in the first half was difficult on the Bronc’s game plan.

“If you’re playing one of the best teams in the country and your leading scorer doesn’t score in the first half, it becomes an even taller task,” he said.

Ten different players scored for Pitt, led by Wanamaker. Gibbs also finished with 16 points, while Dante Taylor and Gilbert Brown joined the two in double figures with 12 and 11 points, respectively.

Taylor said his offensive game is continuing to develop.

“It’s definitely starting to come around,” he said after the game. “I’m working hard, each game is improving. I’m getting in the flow of the game, getting easy baskets, following the ball and trying not to take bad shots.”

Pitt’s bench continues to shine, outscoring Rider’s bench 31-6 with Taylor leading the charge.Both teams shot well from the field. The Panthers finished the game with a 53.8 field goal percentage, including 38.9 percent from three. Rider shot 50 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc.

The Panthers also out-rebounded the Broncs 35-25.

Pitt plays again Wednesday against Delaware State. The tip-off is set for 7 p.m. at the Petersen Events Center.