Grove City, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's basketball team moved back above .500 on the season as they battled back from a 15-point first-half deficit to defeat Grove City 89-75 on Friday afternoon.
The hosts came out on fire as they were able to score 7 quick points on their first three possessions of the game. Nate Schneider kept the Panthers in the game early, as he scored fourteen of the Panthers' first 21 points in the opening 10 minutes of play. With the Panthers trailing 25-21, the Wolverines went on a 13-2 scoring run in just under four minutes.
Trey Oyler entered the game with 6 minutes to go in the half and sparked a Panther comeback. He quickly stole the ball on the defensive end and was fouled. After Oyler made a free throw, B.J. Williams grabbed the rebound and converted an old-fashioned three-point play. He made another layup to cut the Grove City advantage back into single digits. The Wolverines slowed the Panther rally with a made jump shot, but Oyler quickly answered with a three-pointer. Following a pair of Phillip Wallace free throws, Williams scored another quick five points, making a three and then adding an open layup on a pass from Schneider to cut the lead to one point.
Grove City ended a two-minute drought with a layup, but Schneider scored eight unanswered points in 1:42 to put the Panthers up five. The hosts were able to make a last-second basket to send the game to the break with Pitt-Bradford leading 47-44.
The last-second basket at the end of the first half seemed to turn momentum back to the Wolverines, as they outscored the Panthers 9-2 in the first three and a half minutes of the second half to retake the lead and force an early Pitt-Bradford timeout. The Panthers responded to the timeout as after a Caden Beldin tip-in was answered by a Grove City jumper, Lennon Lindholm hit threes on back-to-back possessions to put the Panthers back in front.
Williams kept the Panthers ahead with a pair of free throws and a layup but after another Wolverine jumper cut the Panther edge to two points, Pitt-Bradford scored 17 of 18 points to take a commanding 78-60 lead. Oyler led the charge as he made two more threes and added a layup and an assist in the rally. Over the final nine minutes of play, the hosts worked to cut into the lead, but Schneider and Wallace each added two more baskets inside to hold off the rally and keep the Panther lead in double figures for the remainder of play.
Nathan Schneider led all scorers in the game with 34 points on 13-21 from the field and 8 of 8 from the line. He filled up the entire stat sheet as he also recorded 6 rebounds, 4 assists, 3 steals, and 2 blocks. B.J. Williams made 6-10 from the field to finish with a season-high 17 points. After missing the first 10 games of the season through injury, Trey Oyler made his season debut and scored 12 points off the bench. He made all 4 of his attempts in the game, including all three from beyond the arc. He also had 4 assists.
The victory moves the Panthers to 6-5 on the season as they wrap up non-conference play. They will now move into the AMCC portion of their schedule, playing the final 14 games of the regular season against conference opponents. They will kick off AMCC play on Wednesday, Jan. 4th when they host LaRoche at 5:00 p.m.
