Text Size:
A|
A|
A
Email
Print
NEW YORK -- With four of the starting five having sub-par games, Pitt needed to find some secondary scoring to get by St. John's Saturday afternoon. That much-needed lift came from the fifth starter and a slew of reserves who carried the Panthers to a 71-64 victory at Madison Square Garden.
Sophomore forward Nasir Robinson and junior reserve Gilbert Brown scored 13 points, and Pitt's bench contributed 28. In addition to Brown, Travon Woodall and Dante Taylor scored six points apiece and Chase Adams three.
Woodall and Adams played a lot in the first half when starters Gibbs and Jermaine Dixon were on the bench with two fouls apiece. If not for some late Gibbs free throws, the bench would have outscored the other four starters.
"Our rotation has been really solid," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "The bench has been a strength of ours. They're a young group, but they're getting better and better."
Pitt (22-7, 11-5) can clinch a double bye at the Big East tournament next week by winning one of its final two games against Providence and Rutgers.
The Panthers have won their past five games against St. John's (15-13, 5-11) and swept the season series from the Red Storm.
The best of the starters Saturday was Robinson, who scored nine consecutive points for Pitt in the span of a little more than two minutes at the beginning of the second half. Robinson's inspired play allowed the Panthers to maintain their seven-point halftime lead because St. John's came out of the locker room matching Robinson point for point.
PDF"I just wanted to play aggressive," said Robinson, the starting power forward who came into the game averaging 6.3 points per game. "I just played hard and got the job done."
Robinson, 6 feet 5 and 220 pounds, was 5 for 7 from the field and grabbed eight rebounds. He bounced back after being shut out against Notre Dame Wednesday night.
"I thought he played really well," St. John's coach Norm Roberts said. "I thought he gave them some really good minutes."
Robinson's strong effort came with a former Pitt power forward sitting behind the bench. Sam Young, a rookie with the Memphis Grizzlies who played against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden Saturday night, was cheering on his former teammates. He even went into the locker room at halftime to offer some inspiration.
"He just said we had to play harder and rebound," Robinson said.
Not that Pitt needed much inspiration from Young. They got plenty of motivation from the 15-point loss at Notre Dame.
"This was a great statement game," Dixon said. "A great response."
The bench scored 17 of the team's 31 first-half points. Woodall and Adams scored all their points in the first half, and Taylor scored four of his six before halftime.
"With Brad [Wanamaker], Jermaine and Ashton in foul trouble I thought it was huge for Travon and Dante to play the way they did," Brown said. "Their confidence has been growing. Our bench was really effective."
The starters were not effective in their usual scoring roles. Gibbs, the team's leading scorer, was 2 for 7 from the field and scored seven of his points at the free-throw line late in the game. Jermaine Dixon scored four points in only 18 minutes. And Wanamaker, the second-leading scorer, notched eight points.
Still, Pitt was able to shoot 51 percent (24 for 47) from the field. It was Pitt's offensive efficiency that kept St. John's at bay in the second half. St. John's scored 41 points in the second half, but Pitt scored 40 on 50-percent shooting.
"They made some big shots," Roberts said. "Pitt is one of the toughest teams to come back against because they grind it out every possession."
The 53-point effort against Notre Dame was the third-lowest scoring output for the Panthers this season. Jamie Dixon said he sees signs that the offense is rebounding into shape as the season winds down.
"Our offense was as good as it has been [against St. John's]," Dixon said. "I really feel like our offense is getting better."
•
NOTES -- St. John's outrebounded Pitt, 37-34. Pitt has now been outrebounded in six of its past nine Big East games. ... Junior center Gary McGhee had 10 rebounds for his fifth double-figure rebound game in the past nine. ... D.J. Kennedy, from Schenley High School, scored 12 points for St. John's. ... Dwight Hardy led St. John's with 15 points, but he was only 4 for 15 from the field.
Check out Ray Fittipaldo's Pitt B-Ball blog and Paul Zeise's Pitt Stop videos about football exclusively on PG+, a members-only web site from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.
