Bradford, Pa. – The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's basketball team was back in action on their home court on Friday evening, as they took on Keuka College. The Panthers led for the majority of the contest, but ultimately fell 82-78.
The Panthers got off to a slow start, as the Wolves kept them off the board for the first 3 minutes of play, opening a 5-point lead. Nate Schneider was able to get the Panther offense started, as he hit a pull-up jumper to start the scoring. After a Keuka layup, Lennon Lindholm hit a three and Caden Beldin made a layup to tie the game at 7. Pitt-Bradford answered subsequent Keuka baskets for the next three minutes until Lindholm hit another corner three to give the Panthers their first lead at 14-13. They quickly pushed their lead to 6 as Schneider made a layup in transition and then assisted a Jeremy Rodriguez three to force a Keuka timeout with 9:47 left in the half.
Out of the timeout, Keuka made a three, but Rodriguez quickly answered with a layup. The Wolves continued to try to cut into the lead, but the Panthers were able to answer with layups from Phillip Wallace and Gus Napoleon. Back-to-back layups from Schneider pushed the Panther lead to 8, which Pitt-Bradford was able to maintain through the rest of the half.
Pitt-Bradford pushed their lead to double digits right away as Schneider hit four straight free throws to begin the half. The Wolves were able to cut the lead to six, but a BJ Williams free throw and a three from Napoleon quickly restored the 10- point lead. Keuka began whittling away the Panther advantage with 11 minutes to go, cutting the lead to just three in three minutes. An Alex Rodriguez long ball slowed the Keuka run, but six straight free throws from the visitors tied the game at 66 with five minutes remaining. Schneider kept the Panthers ahead with four straight free throws, but Keuka was able to hit a three with 3 minutes left to take their first lead in nearly 28 minutes of action.
Another Keuka three pushed their lead to 5 points and forced a Panther timeout. Alex Rodriguez stepped up again, hitting a three after the timeout, and then following a Keuka free throw, made another to tie the game at 76 with 47 seconds remaining. The guests answered the three with one of their own to restore their three-point edge and then made two straight stops and three free throws to go ahead by six. Schneider was able to hit a last-second putback to finish the game.
Nathan Schneider led the Panthers with 30 points. He made 9 of 18 from the field and added 12 of 13 from the line. Jeremy Rodriguez scored 9 points off the bench and added 7 rebounds and 6 assists. Alex Rodriguez finished with 9 as well, making 3-5 from beyond the arc.
The Panthers fall to 3-5 with the loss. They will not have to wait long to have an opportunity to get back in the win column, as they will host former AMCC foe Medaille at 4:00 p.m on Saturday.
