Pitt Fights Through Rough Offensive Start to Defeat Youngstown State in Season Opener

PITTSBURGH — The college basketball season is officially back in full swing as Pitt opened up its season and non-conference schedule against Youngstown State at the Petersen Events Center.

The Panthers fell behind the Penguins early due to a rough start offensively but fought back to take a multi-possession lead at the halftime break before ultimately running away with a 74-59 victory to open their season.

Despite not shooting well in the opener, the size and physicality of the Panthers helped negate the sloppy play as they out-rebounded the Penguins 46-24 and shot a total of 27 field goals, making 22 of them.

Youngstown State’s preseason All-Horizon League First Teamer Cris Carroll started the game’s scoring with a three and went onto tally 8 of the team’s first 12 points as the Penguins dashed out to a 12-6 lead.

Following an alley-oop dunk by Imanuel Zorgvol that pushed the Penguins’ lead to eight, the Panthers started to knock some of the dust off due to a spark off of the bench courtesy of Papa Kante.

After Kante checked into the game, he immediately grabbed an offensive rebound that he dished out to Nojus Indrusaitis for a three. On the next offensive possession, Kante hauled in another offensive rebound and laid it back up which cut the deficit to just three.

The Panthers eventually took their first lead of the evening just before the under-eight media stoppage when Cam Corhen finished off an and-one. Corhen’s tough finish and free throw put the Panthers ahead 20-19.

The Penguins answered the Panthers’ surge with a 6-0 run themselves which pushed their lead back out to 25-20.

A pair of Barry Dunning Jr. free throws got things back on track for Pitt, at least in the point column as they went 1-of-8 from the field following Corhen’s and-one until Brandin Cummings sunk a tough layup to make the score 28-27.

During the shooting slump by the Panthers, Cummings was fouled twice and hit a trio of free throws to help cut into the deficit at the under-four stoppage.

The Panthers came out in the last four minutes and took control of the game as they ended the half on a 9-0 run in which they forced the Penguins to go over four minutes without a field goal.

The Panthers carried a 34-28 lead into the intermission.

After scoring 8 points early in the first half, Carroll went scoreless over the remainder of the period but opened the second half up with his second three-pointer of the game.

The Panthers answered Carroll’s quick three by mounting a second-half run which was sparked by Cummings, who score the Panthers’ first five points of the second half. His scoring streak helped open up the rest of his teammates following the first media stoppage.

After going 0-of-4 from the field in the opening half, freshman Roman Siulepa scored his first two collegiate buckets of his career including finishing off a put back layup which made the score 45-36 in favor of the Panthers.

The Panthers eventually extended the lead to 51-41 on a three-pointer by Cummings before the Penguins started to fight back when they received three from Jason Nelson and Rontavious Blackshear, and a layup from Carroll, which cut the deficit to just four with about nine minutes to go.

The Penguins’ punch did not phase the Panthers yet again as they answered with another scoring run that bled into the under-eight timeout.

After Indrusaitis buried a pair of free throws, Minor knocked down a baseline midrange shot before he forced a turnover that turned into a dunk by Indrisaitis on the other end. The 6-0 run helped the Panthers re-establish a double-digit lead.

Nelson ended the Penguins’ drought following the timeout with a physical layup in which Minor attempted a block. Despite making the shot, Nelson hit the ground hard which made Penguins’ head coach Ethan Faulkner erupt on the sidelines resulting in a technical foul.

The Panthers went on a 6-2 run following the tech which helped them close out the season-opening win over the Penguins.

Corhen paced the Panthers in the win with 23 points and 12 rebounds while Cummings added 18 points. Indrusaitis was the only other Pitt player to finish in double-figures as he scored 13 points in his first action as a member of the Panthers.

Pitt is next in action on Friday night when the Panthers host Longwood at the Petersen Events Center and will look to improve to 2-0 on the young season.