Men’s Basketball: Pirates, weather can’t stop Panthers from ending losing streak

After battling the weather, battling the Pirates was no problem.

As Pittsburgh plows and… After battling the weather, battling the Pirates was no problem.

As Pittsburgh plows and road crews cleared away two feet of snow outside, inside No. 21 Pitt rolled to an 83-58 victory over Seton Hall on Saturday.

Gilbert Brown led the Panthers with 23 points and Gary McGhee chipped in with a double-double, but the big story was the snowfall that threatened to cancel the game.

“We got stuck on the bus on an off-ramp and had to walk seven blocks to a hotel in a state of emergency,” Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez said. “Maybe that affected our shooting percentage. I don’t know.”

Season-ticket holders were encouraged to stay home, and the game only had two referees, one official short of a regular game.

“There was a play right in front of our bench, and I looked for the ref to make the call and there wasn’t one there,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

Pitt students were allowed into the Peterson Events Center without a ticket as the athletics department tried to fill as much of the arena as possible. The Oakland Zoo spilled into the lower bowl as students sat in vacant season-ticket holder seats.

“It seemed almost louder. It seemed like the whole student body was there,” Brown said. “The Zoo was great.”

Nonetheless, many season-ticket holders braved icy and unpaved roads for the game as 6,681 fans attended.

“We’re the only place in the country that tells people not to come and still get 7,000 at the game,” Dixon said.

And their trip was not in vain, as Pitt (17-6, 7-4 Big East) snapped a two-game losing streak.

“They lost four out of five [entering the game],” Gonzalez said. “They were desperate.”

Brown’s 11 points in the game’s first 10 minutes propelled Pitt to an early 17-15 lead in a back-and-forth start. The junior guard rebounded from a scoreless performance against West Virginia with his second highest point total of the season.

Meanwhile, Eugene Harvey led Seton Hall (12-9, 3-7) with 12 points, and Jamel Jackson and Robert Mitchell each had 11 in the losing effort. Pitt held Jeremy Hazell, second in the Big East in scoring averaging 23 points a game, to two points.

“I knew if we stopped him we had a great chance of winning,” Jermaine Dixon said. “He’s a great scorer, so it’s good to be able to hold a guy like that to single-digits. My confidence is riding high.”

Dixon had 15 points, including a lay-up that opened up a 13-point lead late in the first half.

“Start with the hustle plays,” he said. “You make hustle plays, you get everybody involved and get the crowd going.”

Pitt led, 37-30, at halftime, and the team did not look back, out-scoring Seton Hall 46-28 in the second half.

McGhee had 12 points and 11 rebounds for his third double-double of the season, and the Panthers out-rebounded their opponent for the first time in four games.

“[I’ve been] getting on the glass a lot more,” McGhee said of his recent play. “Tonight I just got out there and got some offensive rebounds.”

Five Panthers hit double-digits in the victory. Brad Wanamaker and Ashton Gibbs had 13 and 11 points, respectively.

“We really didn’t emphasize a shot selection,” Brown said. “It was really just trying to create for other players. I think we really struggled the last couple games, and that’s when you saw our offense really being stagnant.”

Pitt shot 51.7 percent from the floor, and their 83 points was a season high. On the other hand, Seton Hall’s 58 points was its lowest total of the season.

“A lot of things went wrong for us today, “Gonzalez said. “Including the fact we can’t fly out tonight.”