Greensburg, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's basketball team lost their 2nd one possession game of the week on Saturday, as they fell to Pitt-Greensburg 70-71 Saturday afternoon.
Jamarion Butler got off to a hot shooting start for the Panthers as he answered 5 early Bobcat points with a three and a pull-up jumper in the first two minutes. Trailing 8-5 after four minutes of action, the Panthers went on a run, scoring 12 unanswered to build a 9-point advantage. Gus Napoleon started the rally with a corner three before Xavion Boone Roberson gave the Panthers their first lead with two from the line. Butler made two jumpers around a Coby Farley free throw and Trey Davis capped the run with a bucket inside. After the Bobcats stopped the run with a layup, Pitt-Bradford extended their lead into double-digits, as Napoleon made another three and Davis drove to the basket for a layup, putting Pitt-Bradford ahead 22-10.
Following the Davis basket, the Panthers began to struggle to break the Bobcat's full-court pressure, as they turned the ball over four straight times. This was compounded y two straight misses, which allowed the hosts to quickly cut the lead back to just one point in a 90-second span. Keshon Kittrell ended the run with an old-fashioned three-point play, but the lead only lasted a few minutes longer as the Bobcats tied the game at 26 with just over four minutes to go in the half. The Panthers responded to the rally with a 10-2 run of their own over the next two minutes. Butler and Jesse Laster each made a pair of free throws, and following two from the stripe for the hosts, Farley and NApoleon hit back-to-back threes putting Pitt-Bradford ahead by 8. In the final two minutes, the Panthers were not able to score again, and the Bobcats added four of their own to send the game to the break with the Panthers leading 36-32.
The Panther advantage would not last long in the 2nd half, as the hosts made a three on their first possession of the period and then after a turnover, retook the lead with a layup. The teams exchanged the lead 5 times over the next few minutes, and the Panthers seemed to weather their post-halftime struggles as layups from Butler and Napoleon restored the 4-point edge from the break with just over 11 minutes remaining. The lead was quickly erased as the Bobcats made two threes around a Samuel Brown putback and then added a layup. Farley put the Panthers back in front with a three with 7:25 to go, but after a timeout, the Bobcats scored 5 in a row to go ahead by three.
Coby Farley lobbed a fast-break alley-oop to Jesse Laster and then after a Pitt-Greensburg three and a Trey Davis layup, hit another three to put the Panthers back in front. His long ball was quickly answered by the hosts, and then after a turnover, the Bobcats made a pair from the line to go ahead by four points with 2 minutes left. Following a Panther time out. Butler grabbed his own rebound and slammed home the follow to halve the deficit, and then following a steal and an offensive rebound, Laster nailed a three with 48 seconds remaining to put Pitt-Bradford ahead 70-69. The hosts were able to retake the lead with a quick layup of their own and then got a defensive stop as they drew an offensive foul on Butler to turn the ball over with 19 seconds left. The Panthers needed to foul 4 times in the final 19 seconds to get the Bobcats into the bonus, which finally occurred with 7 ticks remaining. Pitt-Bradford got a chance, as the Bobcats missed the front end of the one-and-one, but Farley's floating effort at the buzzer bounced off the rim.
Jamarion Butler led the Panthers with 17 points and 7 rebounds. He also added 3 assists and 4 steals. Coby Farley added 13 points with 7 rebounds and 4 assists off the bench, while Gus NApoleon was the only other Panther to reach double figures with 11.
Pitt-Bradford drops to 9-6 overall, with a 5-3 record in AMCC play. They return to KOA Arena after three straight road games as they wrap up the first trip through the AMCC schedule with a matchup against Penn State-Altoona on Wednesday. Tipoff is slated for 7:00 p.m.
