Men’s basketball wins in exhibition

The men’s basketball team rolled on to an 84-66 victory Saturday night against the E.A…. The men’s basketball team rolled on to an 84-66 victory Saturday night against the E.A. Sports All-Stars.

E.A. Sports (0-6), an exhibition squad consisting of various schools’ alumni, have battled with No. 2 Kansas, No. 11 Xavier and No. 18 Missouri. Head coach Phil Bryant compared the physical nature of the Pitt squad to that of the Jayhawks.

The Panthers, coming off the annual Blue-Gold scrimmage, played in their first exhibition of the season. Despite playing in front of a more than half-full Petersen Events Center, with 7,169 in attendance, the exhibition exuded the feeling of a big-time game.

Pitt started senior guard Brandin Knight and juniors Jaron Brown and Julius Page in the backcourt. Senior forward Donatas Zavackas and junior center Toree Morris started in the frontcourt.

Brown opened the scoring for the Panthers. After missing his first shot, Brown grabbed the rebound and laid it in for Pitt’s first points. Following a three-pointer by E.A. Sports’ Adonis Jordan from a Matt Garrison pass, Brown scored his second bucket of the game from a Morris assist.

Brown had a strong opening quarter for Pitt.

“Jaron was really an animal on the boards in the first seven or eight minutes,” head coach Ben Howland commented. “Jaron epitomizes what a coach looks for in a player.”

With 16:45 remaining in the opening quarter, Page electrified the crowd as he penetrated the E.A. Sports’ defense with his crafty ball-handling skills, drawing the foul from Brian Jones on his made layup. Page finished the play when he sunk the free throw.

E.A. Sports retaliated on the play when Jones broke through the Panther defense for two points.

At the 13-minute mark, Pitt made its first substitution as senior forward Ontario Lett replaced Morris and redshirt freshman guard Carl Krauser entered for Page.

Lett began his assault off the bench with a steal and was fouled underneath the Pitt basket. After making his free throw, Lett had another steal, which led to his breakaway layup. He was fouled and made his second free throw of the evening. At this point the score was 20-7 in favor of Pitt.

Krauser also made his presence felt. At point guard he outmaneuvered the E.A. Sports defense, driving to the basket numerous times in the first half. At some points in the game Howland chose to run a three-guard lineup with Knight, Krauser and Page on the court together.

With one minute remaining, Krauser threw an alley-oop pass to sophomore forward Mark McCarroll, who finished the play off with the dunk. As the crowd jumped to its feet, the referee called a technical foul on McCarroll for slapping the backboard.

E.A. Sports’ Jordan knocked down both free throws to wrap up the first half, with Pitt leading 40-24.

Knight displayed no signs of having off-season surgery as he opened the second half with an offensive explosion. Knight scored eight points in the half within the first four minutes, including two three-pointers.

After the media time out at 15:47, Page and Knight connected in the paint. Knight set up the first of two consecutive alley-oop attempts for Page, who completed the first dunk.

Zavackas also made a strong shooting impression, as he knocked down two three-pointers in the second half off of assists from Page and Brown.

Krauser returned off the bench and immediately found Lett under the basket. Within one minute of play, the two connected for a fast break where Lett scored twice and Krauser picked up two assists. This also marked Pitt’s largest lead of the night, with a 29-point margin, 66-37.

“I try to make nice crisp passes,” Krauser said. “Playing on the court with these guys is an honor.”

McCarroll grabbed a rebound underneath the E.A. Sports’ basket and kicked the ball out to Krauser. The guard then drove down the court, dodging the defense with flashy between-the-legs ball handling, to find Lett under Pitt’s basket. Krauser quickly became a crowd favorite.

E.A. Sports’ Garrison came through in the second half, scoring 16 of his 18 points, which included three three-pointers. Teammate guard Mike Nilson stunned the Pitt defense with 7:46 remaining as he drove through to the basket for the layup.

Krauser left his impression on Pitt fans as he had a strong finish to end the game. With all three guards on the court, Krauser made behind-the-back passes to Chevon Troutman, who finished the play with a layup. Krauser then followed this assist, which he had eight of in the game, with a one-handed layup.

The game wrapped up with junior guard Carlo Dorazio seeing some playing time. Dorazio attempted the three-point shot, but fell short of scoring. Pitt finished with the victory.

Page remained on the court after the win to practice his free throws.

“I am mad at myself for missing the free throws in the game,” Page commented. “It’s all about having confidence.”

Howland was pleased with the victory and the amount of playing time that his players received.

“We played a lot of people,” he said. “We played 10 guys.”

However, he was disappointed with the 26 turnovers that his squad committed, saying that was “way too many.”

The team will return to action in its final exhibition game Saturday at 7:30 p.m. against the One World All-Stars.