Men’s Basketball: Panthers win despite record-setting first half

The Pitt men’s basketball team led tonight’s game at the half by a score that was closer to… The Pitt men’s basketball team led tonight’s game at the half by a score that was closer to a high-scoring baseball game rather than a basketball game: 15-7.

Luckily for the Panthers, Pitt’s defense and sophomore Ashton Gibbs were there to spark Pitt. Gibbs led the team with a career-high 23 points as the Panthers (7-1) beat New Hampshire 47-32 at the Petersen Events Center.

“I was just taking what the defense gave me. Coach Dixon has been stressing when I get the ball to face my defender first,” Gibbs said, adding the last time he played in such a low-scoring game was in the YMCA league.

Junior Brad Wanamaker chipped in with a career-high 19 points, joining Gibbs as two of only three Panthers to make a basket in the game.

Freshman Dante Taylor added a basket, while the three other points besides the duo’s combined 42 came from free throws.

“We ran a lot a lot of sets for them, they made shots, the other guys didn’t,” coach Jamie Dixon said of Gibbs and Wanamaker. “I thought both of them played very well. They were very patient and waited for their looks and waited for their shots.”

With 2:55 left in the first half, Gibbs went on a tear, scoring six points to close out the half.

“If Ashton Gibbs doesn’t go on a roll at the end of the first half, and into the early part of the second half, I think that was the difference,” New Hampshire coach Bill Herrion said.

Gibbs has scored in double figures six out of eight games this year.

Both teams had offensive woes in this game. Pitt finished the game with 16 turnovers and 12 assists, shooting 40 percent from the field.

“We were out of sync, we weren’t making shots,” Wanamaker said. “We were playing good defense, but on the offensive end it wasn’t there.”

The poor shooting was good enough, or bad enough depending on how you look at it, to earn a few notable achievements.

The combined halftime score of 22 points shattered the previous low halftime score of 28 points, set by Mississippi and South Carolina on Jan. 8, 2003. The 22 points now stands as the lowest halftime total since the beginning of the shot clock era (1985).

New Hampshire’s seven points in one half tied the record held by Central Michigan, which scored seven points against Ohio on Jan. 14th, 2006. The seven points are the lowest Pitt has given up since holding Penn State to 11 first-half points in 2003.

“That was like root canal,” Herrion said. “That was a tough one, that’s what you all hope to be the [Pitt-Cincinnati] football score tomorrow.”

Pitt held the Wildcats to 23.5 percent shooting from the field, and also forced 14 turnovers.

“For the most part I thought we played pretty good defense,” Dixon said. “I saw improvement in what we were doing, guarding guys coming off the screens. We’ve come a long way in that area.”

Pitt rebounded in the second half to shoot 52 percent from the field, after shooting 26 percent in the first half.

“We adjusted, we started moving the ball more, getting better looks, shots started falling and our confidence built,” Wanamaker said.

But Gibbs, Wanamaker and Dixon all agreed that Pitt didn’t have a good first half.

“Obviously there was a stretch there where it wasn’t very good,” Dixon said.

But help might be on the way soon for Pitt. Prior to tonight’s game, as well as the previous matchup against Duquesne, senior Jermaine Dixon warmed up with the team. This included doing lay-up drills and shooting drills.

Dixon broke the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot back in July, which was expected to keep him sidelined for eight weeks. But, after Dixon had surgery in September to repair it, X-rays revealed it was healing slower than doctors had originally anticipated.

Now, it seems he’s poised to make a return soon.

“Jermaine got good reports back on his X-rays today,” Dixon said. “I think we’ll look to do a little bit more with him come Sunday when we practice.

As far as a prediction for Tuesday’s game against Indiana at Madison Square Garden, Dixon couldn’t say whether Jermaine would play or not.

“No decisions will be made until we see how things go tomorrow,” Dixon said. “We’re progressing. Tomorrow he’s going to work out on his own and we’ll see where he’s at on Sunday and go from there.”