Pitt throttles SC State 86-50

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Pitt had a week between games and it certainly showed in the first half. The Panthers finally broke away from the post-finals blues had late surge just before halftime and used that run to dispel South Carolina State 86-50 at the Petersen Events Center on Saturday afternoon.

South Carolina State, now 3-9 on the year, closed Pitt’s first half lead to three points at 21-18 around the six minute mark, but that is when the Panthers turned it on and got it going.

Pitt closed the first half on a 15-2 run and it was capped off by a Blake Hinson two-handed slam just before the buzzer sounded. Pitt held a 36-20 lead at the break and South Carolina State did very little in breaking into that deficit as the Panthers cruised to the win and improved to 8-3 on the season.

Despite running away with the game in the second half, the Panthers’ sluggish play was noticeable. Pitt had 11 ` turnovers and were even being out-rebounded by South Carolina State at halftime, but as the game progressed, Pitt was able to flex its muscles and stretch the advantage.

The Panthers started the game with a new look on the court. Jeff Capel employed the same starting five in the first ten games, but opted to put Guillermo Diaz Graham and William Jeffress into the starting lineup in place of the struggling Federiko Federiko and Zack Austin.

Diaz Graham, making his fourth career start, finished with seven points, eight rebounds, and four assists and Federiko provided six points and five boards off the bench, but the minute distribution certainly favored the sophomore from Spain. Saturday marked the third straight game he has logged more minutes than Federiko and it looks like that will continue.

The Panthers were yet again paced by Hinson, who finished with 19 points. He did not reach the 20-point mark, snapping a four-game streak in that department. The ACC’s leading scorer had a quiet game by his standards, but still connected on 7-of-10 of his field goal attempts for the game. Ish Leggett added 14…

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Source link : https://pittsburgh.rivals.com/news/pitt-throttles-sc-state-86-50?yptr=yahoo

Author : Panther-lair

Publish date : 2023-12-16 21:04:13

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