Men’s Basketball: Pitt uses late run to stay undefeated in Ireland

After a week of traveling through Ireland in search of foreign competition, Pitt finally… After a week of traveling through Ireland in search of foreign competition, Pitt finally found some. The Dart Killester Club Team gave the Panthers a test yesterday, but the Panthers used a late run to win the game 88-62.

Pitt won each of its first three games on the Ireland tour by 40 or more points, but going into the fourth quarter of yesterday’s game, the Panthers were only winning by nine. Pitt went on a 29-12 run in the fourth quarter, which was sparked by an offensive rebound dunk by Dante Taylor to put the game out of reach for Dart Killester.

Taylor had a double-double with 14 points and 10 rebounds. Gilbert Brown also had 14 points. This was the lowest point total for the Panthers of the four games they have played in Ireland.

In the first quarter, Pitt faced its largest deficit of the trip: five points. Dart Killester, which is a professional team that plays in the Irish Superleague, held an early lead at 14-9.

But Pitt used its 21 offensive rebounds and 50 total rebounds to outwork its opponents and keep its record unblemished for its overseas trip.

The games were played under international rules, as designated by FIBA – the International Basketball Federation. Meaning that the key on the court is much wider at the bottom than the traditional NCAA court. And due to the three-second rule, a player cannot simply stand in the paint – so the forwards are stationed farther away from the basket than usual.

Gary McGhee said this made things difficult for him.

“The wider lane makes it more difficult to score for a big man. I can’t post up in the same spot that I want to,” McGhee said in a blog post. “The wider lane also makes three seconds easier to call. We got caught a few times in the lane.”

McGhee is averaging six points a game.

He mentioned the faster shot clock as well and said that it is contributing to the higher scores. The NCAA shot clock is 35 seconds, while the FIBA clock is 24.

“The 24-second shot clock speeds the game,” he said. “I think it helps us out and makes us push the ball a little bit more.”

The Panthers spent today touring Dublin and other parts of the country, including the Newgrange burials site, an ancient burial tomb built around 3,000 B.C.

Tomorrow the team will head to Northern Ireland where they will face off against the Melbourne Tigers, an Australian professional team featuring former Syracuse player Eric Devendorf, at Belfast’s Odyssey Arena. On Saturday Pitt will play its final game of the trip against the English National Team.