Men’s Basketball: Second-half surge leads Panthers over Nittany Lions

Mike Young was bruised, battered and blocked just in Pitt’s first few possessions Tuesday. The trend continued for the men’s basketball team throughout the half, but Young might have struggled the most.

And yet Young led Pitt in scoring with six points in the first half.

It took 14 points from Talib Zanna in the second half and 12 from Lamar Patterson in the final 20 minutes to lead Pitt to a 78-69 comeback victory against Penn State at the Petersen Events Center.

“Penn State’s a great team, we just had to adjust,” Patterson said. “They threw the first punch in the first half. I think our team responded well in the second half.”

The Panthers (8-0) shot just 28 percent in the first half, but were saved at the foul line by making 13-of-14 shots to stay within two of Penn State (6-3) at the half, trailing 30-28. The offense struggled to move the ball, evidenced at the half by Young’s team-high total of six points, all of which came from free throws.

Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon found fault in the team’s poor performance from the floor, remarking that the stat book told the tale of the Panthers’ miserable play.

“I spent the whole halftime emphasizing our number of assists,” Dixon said. “Three is not a good number for us, and sometimes the stats don’t lie — and that sort of was it. [We were] just impatient, didn’t let things come.”

Joining Patterson and Zanna, who finished with 16 points each, were Cam Wright (12 points) and James Robinson (10), who each attained double figures as well.

“In the first half, we kind of tried to force a lot of shots,” Zanna said. “Our shot wasn’t falling in. The second half, we came in and changed some principles.”

Nothing changed at first. An ominous start plagued Pitt in the second half, and it looked like the Panthers might head down the same path that led them to five first-half turnovers. On Pitt’s first possession, Young aggressively drove halfway to the hoop, but was cleanly blocked when he went to hoist a shot.

Then Zanna and Young couldn’t scoop up a wide-open rebound after Penn State missed a shot, and the ball bounced off Young’s shoe. The Nittany Lions used the extra possession to hit a 3-pointer.

But Zanna made up for that miscue — and not just offensively.

Just a couple minutes after that gaffe, Zanna guarded Penn State guard Tim Frazier at half-court. Frazier had already diced the Panthers for 17 points with just under 14 minutes to play, but Zanna poked the ball away from his handle to record a steal.

The redshirt senior center raced Frazier the length of the court and finished the play with a layup at the other end that put the Panthers ahead, 42-41, and forced a Penn State timeout.

Next, Zanna worked the glass, coming alive en route to snaring four second-half rebounds of his 10 total. After grabbing a defensive rebound from Frazier’s missed jumper, he pushed the ball up court, eventually receiving it again once he made his way to the post.

From there, Zanna was double-teamed, but dished to Patterson, who shot a 3-pointer that put Pitt ahead, 63-59.

Then, with just under four minutes left to play and Pitt leading by only a point, Zanna stepped up again to give the Panthers momentum. After James Robinson missed a wide-open 3-pointer, the ball hit off the rim, but Zanna grabbed the defensive rebound. He set Patterson up again, but this time the redshirt senior forward was off the mark. Both seniors raced back down the court to encounter Penn State player D.J. Newbill driving to the right side of the hoop.

Patterson flailed his arms going for the block, but came up empty. Nevertheless, Zanna trailed the play and stuffed Newbill’s attempt before it could reach the rim. Patterson, who also added nine rebounds and five assists, collected the loose block and found Robinson for an easy layup.

“They brought more energy than we had to begin,” Robinson added. “I think we came out flat, and I think Talib, with his energy on both ends of the court, and Lamar’s playmaking and his energy, the younger guys on the team — we just kind of rallied around them.”

Pitt turned around a pathetic first-half shooting performance to make 17-of-29 shots (58.6 percent) in the final period, greatly aided by 30 points in the paint. 

“Once we got going in the second half, we did what we wanted to do,” Dixon said. “We thought we could get layups against them, we thought we could drive it, we thought we could get in the lane, and I thought we shot too many jump shots. But we recognized it and played through it and did a good [job].”

Frazier burned Pitt for 15 points in the first half and was “held” to just 12 in the second, finishing with 27 for the night. Along with Newbill, who finished with 18 points, Frazier was able to take advantage of Pitt’s stagnant start.

“[Frazier is] a really good guard,” Robinson said. “He’s quick, he obviously can score the ball. But I think their coach does a great, great job of coaching them to their talents. He was able to come off of a lot of ball screens, and he really did his thing tonight. Hats off to him.”

But in the end, it was the Panthers who prevailed. 

“That’s Pitt basketball right there. We do it on both ends of the floor,” Patterson said.