By HUNTER O. LYLE
lyleoleanstar@gmail.com
BRADFORD, PA – With less than 45 seconds left on the clock, the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men’s’ basketball team needed a stop. It hadn’t been a pretty road to their one-point lead, but all that mattered now was that they were ahead. That and defense.
As Pitt-Greensburg crossed half court, they had barely begun to run a play before Jamarion Butler helped on a double-team, resulting in a crucial steal. However, the Bobcats would get another chance at survival as Pitt-Bradford turned the ball over with 12 seconds remaining.
Coming back down the floor, Butler would once again come up clutch, tipping a dribble and coming away with his sixth steal of the afternoon. After an intentional trip to the charity stripe, Butler knocked down both, giving Pitt-Bradford a three-point lead. Strategically sending Pitt-Greensburg to the line, the Panthers would come away with a hard-fought victory as the Bobcats missed both shots. After a tough 40 minutes, Pitt-Bradford left the court with a 98-93 win.
“I’m happy we won. We found a way to win,” said Pitt-Bradford head coach Jesse DeLoof, “but we got lucky a little bit too.”
While the 12-1 Panthers entered the game as the favorites on paper, Pitt-Greensburg was no slouch. After starting the season 3-6, the Bobcats had strung together six consecutive victories, including a 68-64 win over two-time defending Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference champions in their latest contest. Their recent success and momentum followed them to KOA Arena, as the Bobcats would hold Pitt-Bradford to one of their lowest scoring first halves of the season.
Known to be a fast-paced, run-and-gun team, the Panthers were weighed down with tough defense in the halfcourt. Surrounded by collapsing defenders in the paint, Pitt-Bradford was forced to rely on their outside shots early on. Although they were able to weather the initial storm of infrequent scoring, building a 16-point lead with nine and a half minutes left, the Panthers would suffer one of their worst dry spells in the ensuing minutes.
Using a mixed bag that included 3-pointers, elusive maneuvers at the rim and a handful of shots at the free throw line, the Bobcats began to surge, cutting the deficit to single digits with just under six minutes in the half. While Pitt-Bradford continuously missed shots both inside and out, as well as suffering multiple turnovers, Pitt-Greensburg sparked a 17-4 run to tie the game going into the break.
“I thought it looked like five individuals out there. Offensively, we needed to get down hill, we needed to get to the rim but it was like everyone individually trying to do that. Then defensively, there was no communication the whole way through,” said DeLoof, whose team scored just three points in the final six and a half minutes. “I don’t know if there was a little bit of panic, like ‘oh this isn’t going well,’ but this is basketball. This is how basketball goes a lot of times so we needed to put that in perspective. The way we handled it mentally was not us.”
Coming into the second half, Pitt-Bradford turned up the intensity with a notable influx of energy. However, they seemed to merely be rising to Pitt-Greensburg’s level. Through the opening minutes, both teams scored tick-for-tack as the lead swapped hands five times in the first four and a half minutes.
Xavion Boone stretches out for a contested layup during the Panthers’ three-point win over Pitt-Greensburg. | Photo by Hunter O. Lyle
Following the initial back-and-forth, the Panthers would begin to look like their usual selves. Starting with a 3-pointer from Braylen Salters, Pitt-Bradford kicked off a 9-0 run that would put them in front by seven with just over 15 minutes left. Their lead would eventually swell to double-digits after an and-one from Jesse Laster but it wouldn’t stay for long.
As in the first half, Pitt-Greensburg would mount a comeback rally, this time led by their bigs underneath. Scoring on backdoor cuts, post options and earned trips to the freethrow line, the Bobcats would cut the lead to four in just 30 seconds. Their momentum continued to build as a 6-0 run snowballed into a 16-1 onslaught that put them on top once again.
Fighting tooth and nail, the Panthers were able to scrounge up some made jumpers and solid defense, sparking their own run at 9-4 to tie the game at 75 with just under eight minutes left. From there, both teams scored in retaliation to one another, with Pitt-Greensburg using long outlets to break through the press and Pitt-Bradford capitalizing on tipped passes and transition offense. With just a minute left on the clock, back-to-back offensive rebound scores would give the Bobcats a 93-91 advantage on the scoreboard.
With the seconds quickly counting down, the Panthers would get the upper hand with a knocked down triple from Keshon Kittrell. Now all they had to do was come up with a stop or two. Luckily, Butler was on their team. Coming away with two clutch steals in the final 40 seconds, the Panthers kept their AMCC record unblemished, improving to 7-0 and 14-1 overall.
Butler ended with a double-double, recording a game-high 31 points and 12 rebounds alongside six steals and three assists. Four other Panthers reached double-digit scoring with Coby Farley and Xander Norris each scoring 13 while Salters had 11 and Laster had 10.
“We’re going to have close games. I don’t want us to be in a panic because it’s a close game. I’d like to win the rest of our games, obviously, but if we come up short in one, we do need to be able to turn the page,” said DeLoof. “We’re not above winning by any means. We want to have a chance to win every game and if we’re doing that, we’re in good shape.”
