Big men lead Pitt past Rutgers; Panthers now 15-0

When Rutgers’ Quincy Douby hit a 3-pointer to cut Pitt’s lead to 57-52, it ignited the student… When Rutgers’ Quincy Douby hit a 3-pointer to cut Pitt’s lead to 57-52, it ignited the student section of the Louis Brown Athletic Center. But Carl Krauser quickly silenced the crowd on Pitt’s next possession.

Setting up shop along the right wing, Krauser accepted a pass from Keith Benjamin. With no hesitation, he drained a 3 that took all the life out of the Scarlet Knights.

The Panthers held their eight-point lead through the rest of the half en route to a 76-68 win to remain one of three unbeaten teams in Division I-A basketball.

“You have got to give Carl credit,” Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon said. “They doubled him all night and he’d find the open guys.

“But that was a big shot he made.”

An off night (2-for-7 shooting) and foul trouble limited Krauser’s role in the game. So with only six points coming from their leading scorer, the Panthers used a total team effort, especially from the frontcourt, to leave with a win.

Pitt’s Aaron Gray, Levon Kendall and Sam Young all reached double figures underneath for the Panthers.

In addition to his scoring, Kendall also recorded the first double-double of his career, while setting career highs with 14 points on 7-of-12 shooting and 13 rebounds.

“Levon was obviously very good tonight,” Dixon said. “It was a team effort. I like our 11 guys and I have confidence in all of them. I think you can see that and they all seem to step up.”

Gray and Kendall combined for Pitt’s first six points as the Panthers jumped out to an early 6-0 lead. Later in the first half, Krauser found Kendall in the lane with an around-the-back pass for an easy layin after an initial miss.

Douby, the Big East’s leading scorer – he averaged 23.3 points per game coming in – did his job in keeping the Scarlet Knights within striking distance, though.

He connected with a 3-pointer from beyond NBA 3-point range for a 28-25 Rutgers lead in the first half. On the next possession, J.R. Inman matched Douby’s 3 with one of his own off the glass from the top of the point.

Douby surpassed his scoring average on the night with 27 points on 11-of-21 shooting, including 4-for-9 from beyond the arc.

Benjamin, however, erased the Rutgers lead by himself on Pitt’s next time down the floor, completing a rare four-point play.

From the corner, Benjamin drilled a 3 while falling to the ground on a foul. After a timeout, he returned to the floor to sink a free throw, sparking an 8-0 run for the Panthers.

Douby sent Rutgers into the half with a one-point lead after hitting another 3-pointer from beyond NBA range just before the buzzer sounded.

“They made some tough shots early, and we withstood it,” Dixon said of Rutgers’ 3-point shooting. “So that’s another good sign for us.”

Early in the second half, off of a rebound by Gray, freshman guard Levance Fields took a pass from the Rutgers free throw line and aired it to the opposite end of the court.

Leaping into the air on Pitt’s end was Young, who received the pass with his back to the hoop. In mid-air, he spun his body around and set the ball in for a six-point Panthers lead with 12:28 remaining.

Helping Pitt hold onto a win was the ball control of its two young guards, Ronald Ramon and Fields. The two handled the ball through most of the night as the Panthers went for over 25 minutes without a turnover at one point.

“We had good execution throughout the game,” Dixon said. “We recognized some things of how they played and executed our plan.”

Gray scored nine points in the final three minutes of the game, including 7-for-10 from the free-throw line as the Panthers finished the game at 75 percent from the free-throw line as a team.

“This was a good road win and the way we did it, too,” Dixon said, “but we gave up a few layups at the end. We’ll have to improve on that. Teams are scoring too quick down the stretch.”

The Panthers travel to New York on Saturday for a Big East match-up with the St. John’s Red Storm.

“The guys are working and they’re getting better,” Dixon said. “They don’t look at it as being 15 and 0, they look at what they can get better at and that’s what you have got to do.”

Loose Balls: Kendall’s previous career high for points was 11, which he reached twice (once against Murray State in 2003, and earlier this season against Coppin State) – Pitt’s game against Rutgers was the second in a three-game road trip. The Panthers travel to St. John’s on Saturday for their final game – Pitt is 4-0 for the first time since the 2002-03 season, when they started 5-0 – The Panthers have won eight in a row against the Scarlet Knights, including the last four games in Rutgers’ Louis Brown Athletic Center. Despite the recent success, they still trail the all-time series, 22-20 – Pitt held Rutgers without a point for a stretch of 4:48 in the second half – Gray has scored at least 20 points four times this season –