ALFRED, N.Y. – The Pitt-Bradford men's basketball team escaped an upset bid from the Alfred State Pioneers with a second half surge of points and stole a 56-49 victory on Tuesday night.

Sophomore Zach Smith put together a huge night on the court by finishing with 21 points, six rebounds and three assists to lead Pitt-Bradford (2-2) in scoring. Junior Eric Matheson also had a strong night for the Panthers with 16 points, six rebounds and one assist.

Tommy Hutson finished as the leading scorer for Alfred State (0-6) with 11 points, five rebounds and two assists.  

Alfred State grabbed the first bucket of the contest and worked its way to an early lead before the Panthers found their rhythm and stole the lead with nine minutes remaining in the first half. The two squads swapped buckets for the remainder of the period before the Pioneers headed to the locker room at the break with an 18-17 advantage.

Pitt-Bradford shot 20.7 percent from the floor in the first period and did not connect from behind the arc on seven attempts. From the line, the Panthers finished 5-of-6.

In the second period, the Pioneers and Panthers continued to take turns holding the lead for the opening minutes. With 15:07 showing on the clock, Pitt-Bradford senior Tyler Fantaskey sank a three pointer to give the Panthers the lead for good.

With 4:11 remaining in the contest, Pitt-Bradford opened its largest lead of the night with a 14-point advantage, courtesy of back-to-back free throws from Matheson. The Panthers held on in the final minutes to secure the comeback victory.

For the game, Pitt-Bradford was 29.5 percent from the field, including 14.3 percent from three-point land. The Panthers were 17-of-27 from the line.

Pitt-Bradford now breaks for the Thanksgiving holiday and returns to the court on Wednesday, Dec. 3. Tip-off at Houghton College is set for 7 p.m. in Buffalo, N.Y.