Men’s basketball: Panthers need double overtime to beat the Dukes

The Pitt men’s basketball team and Duquesne needed overtime to determine a winner in the last… The Pitt men’s basketball team and Duquesne needed overtime to determine a winner in the last college basketball game in Mellon Arena history last night.

In fact, for the first time in City Game history, it needed double-overtime.

After the two extra periods, Pitt won its ninth straight City Game, 67-58, giving it a 47-31 advantage all-time.

“This one gave us bragging rights,” guard Brad Wanamaker said.

The Panthers (6-1) pulled away in the second overtime behind two Ashton Gibbs 3-pointers that broke the backs of the Dukes (5-2).

But it was Pitt’s resiliency and defensive adjustments in the second half that helped it come back from a 33-20 halftime deficit that reached as high as 16 points early in the second half.

Duquesne came out hot in the first half, going 6-of-11 from 3-point range in large part because of Bill Clark hitting four of his six attempts from beyond the arc.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon knew his team had to counteract that, so he did something he normally doesn’t like to do. He switched to a 2-3 zone defense.

The zone made all the difference for Pitt as Duquesne finished just 9-of-33 from three and 21-of-66 total from the field.

“They made us look like a deer in the headlights,” Duquesne coach Ron Everhart said.

Gibbs agreed, saying, “Our defense stepped up once we went zone.”

Gibbs’s play late in the game was pivotal for the Panthers, even though he struggled with his shot throughout regulation, shooting just 1-of-10 for seven points.

But he kept shooting when the game was on the line and finished with three 3-pointers and 15 points.

“I just wanted to keep shooting,” Gibbs said. “I knew it would fall sooner or later.”

The Panthers once again out-rebounded their opponent, something Dixon preaches. Pitt beat the Dukes on the boards by a count of 54-41.

This was primarily because of the strong play of center Gary McGhee and forward Nasir Robinson.

McGhee finished with 11 points and eight rebounds, four on the offensive side, and his thunderous dunk with 3:04 left in the second half brought the Panthers half of Mellon Arena to its feet and the Panthers within one.

Robinson contributed 11 points and nine rebounds. He was a major reason why Pitt kept it somewhat close in the first half, coming out of the gates with eight points in the opening half.

Pitt got into the bonus early in the second half as Duquesne, which was in foul trouble all night, racked up 10 fouls quickly. The Dukes had three players foul out, including Damian Saunders, the nation’s second-leading rebounder and the team’s third leading scorer.

Yet the Panthers were not able to fully capitalize on all of their trips to the free throw line, going 23-of-42 from the line.

Pitt’s depth showed up once again in the final college basketball game at Mellon Arena and seemed to wear Duquesne down as the game went along.

The Dukes had three players log 46 minutes or more. Pitt had none.

While it wasn’t pretty, and many times it looked like Pitt was going to fold under the pressure, it didn’t, and that’s just another step for this young team.

“I thought we put on a pretty good show for the last game of the arena,” Dixon said.