Men’s basketball: Second half surge pushes Mountaineers past Panthers

MORGANTOWN, W.Va.  — The No. 21 Pitt men’s basketball team struggled… MORGANTOWN, W.Va.  — The No. 21 Pitt men’s basketball team struggled offensively and was outrebounded 30-16 in the second half as they fell 70-51 on the road toNo. 6 West Virginia.

“It was 43-41 and we didn’t get a rebound after that and that’s where we got beat,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said. “Tonight, we weren’t a good rebounding team.”

With just under 13 minutes remaining in the second half, J.J. Richardson hit a lay-up for the Panthers to cut the Mountaineers’ lead to two, 43-41. The basket ended a Panther run that closed the 42-32 lead West Virginia built within the first four minutes.

Following Richardson’s basket, West Virginia was called for a travel on their next possession and Mountaineer fans began to throw objects onto the court. That’s when Da’Sean Butler and Kevin Jones followed the fans outburst with a three-pointer and field goal, respectively.

The Mountaineers started to pull away from there.

After Gilbert Brown missed the front end of a 1-and-1 for Pitt, Darryl Bryant drained a wide-open three to put the Mountaineers ahead 53-43 with eight minutes remaining.

“We had some defensive lapses and that’s something we have to fix,” Pitt senior Jermaine Dixon said. “We missed shots and they got the offensive rebounds. Rebounding is about effort and boxing out. If we do that, they don’t get those rebounds.”

Jones followed with another three shortly after and the Panthers never threatened again.

“They took advantage of what we gave them and that’s something we didn’t do,” Panther guard Ashton Gibbs said. “We missed easy shots and lay-ups.”

On the following possession, Gary McGhee and John Flowers got tangled underneath the hoop on an offensive rebound. As the referees attempted to break them apart, players started shoving, ending with a referee pushed to the ground.

Sometime during the event, a West Virginia fan threw an object onto the court that struck Pitt assistant coach Tom Herrion. The scuffle resulted in offsetting technical fouls on Robinson and Ebanks.

“The players really didn’t do anything,” Jamie Dixon said of the incident. “It was an unfortunate incident. I don’t think either team is at fault … ”

West Viginia was assessed a technical for the object thrown on the court. Gibbs went to the foul line and made 1-of-2.

The game, although a blowout in the end, was relatively close in the first half. With Pitt trailing 8-7, West Virginia went on a five minute 12-3 run as Deniz Kilicli came off the bench to score six straight points. The NCAA suspended Kilicli for the first 20 games this season because a club team he played on in Turkey had a professional player on the roster.

But Pitt answered with a short 5-0 run before Butler was fouled on a jumper and converted a 3-point play and Jones followed with a three to boost the Mountaineers lead back to 11.

That’s when the Panthers took off on a 9-0 run, highlighted by four points from Dixon. Nasir Robinson started the run with a blow-by for the layup and Ashton Gibbs hit a three to end it.

The Mountaineers capitalized on the last possession of the first half as Wellington Smith rebounded a Butler miss and laid it in for two. West Virginia took a 34-28 lead at halftime.

Most statistics were relatively even before the break — as both teams turned the ball over six times and West Virginia outrebounded Pitt by just one, 16-15.

Jermaine Dixon showed little sign of lingering effects from his sprained ankle against St. John’s. Although the senior missed the South Florida game because of the injury, he led Pitt with 13 points. Dixon said after the game that the injury wasn’t a problem.

Gibbs was the only other Pitt player to reach double figures with 11 points. Wanamaker was held scoreless for the game, going 0-of-4 from the field and 0-of-2 from the foul line.

Richardson came off the bench to score seven points and grab four rebounds for the Panthers.

“He’s been playing well in practice,” Dixon said of Richardson. “He gives us energy.”

But most of Pitt’s struggles came from inability to shoot effectively. The Panthers shot 30.2 percent for the game.

“I don’t have a problem with people missing shots,” Jermaine Dixon said. “But you have to play harder on defense.”

Jones and Butler led the Mountaineers with 18 and 16 points, respectively.

Ebanks grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds to go along with seven points.

“He’s very talented,” Jamie Dixon said. “He plays on the perimeter but takes care of things inside. We guarded him well, but he hurt us on the glass.”

The Panthers play again on Saturday, when they take on Seton Hall at home.