Altoona, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's basketball team hit the road for the AMCC Game of the Week at Penn State-Altoona Wednesday night. The Panthers fell behind in the first half but battled back to win 90-88 and remain unblemished in conference play through the first rotation of games.
The Panthers started the game slow, allowing the hosts to score the first 6 points of the game before the Panthers finally got on the board through a Jamarion Butler layup after 2 minutes and 20 seconds. The hosts extended their lead to 7 points at the 15-minute mark, but Jesse Laster made a three, and Xavion Boone made a short jump shot to trim the deficit to three. Penn state-Altoona responded and took a 19-11 lead, but Pitt-Bradford went on a lightning-quick 8-0 run to tie the game. Xander Norris bookended the run with a pair of threes, while Laster added a layup in the rally.
The Lions followed the Panther run with one of their own, scoring eight straight of their own to restore their advantage. Norris ended the run with another three, but the Panthers could not build momentum and the Lions eventually built their largest lead of the game, 9 points, with 5:48 remaining in the half. Pitt-Bradford quickly trimmed the lead to four with a Laster three and two Boone free throws. A Penn State-Altoona three was followed by two from the line and a quick fastbreak layup from Coby Farley. After two Lion free throws, Farley made a three on a second chance to cut the lead to two. Over the final two minutes of the half the teams exchanged field goals and the teams went into the break with the hosts leading the Panthers 47-44.
In the second half, both teams came out firing. Boone started the half with a free throw and then the teams exchanged 6 baskets in a row. With the Panthers down two, Boone made a three from the wing to give Pitt-Bradford their first lead of the game. Neither team could grab control of the game after the Boone three, and they exchanged the lead nine times over the next five minutes. With 12:44 on the clock, Norris made his 4th three of the game to put the Panthers in front for good. His long ball started an 11-0 run for the Panthers. The majority of the run came from the free throw line, where Norris made 4 of 4 and Samuel Brown added one more. Keshon Kittrell ended the run with a three, putting the Panthers up 74-65.
Leading by nine with 10 minutes remaining, the hosts pushed back, scoring 6 straight from the line and then adding a layup to cut the Panther advantage to one point. Norris ended the rally with two from he line and then after a Lion layup made another three to put Pitt-Bradford ahead 79-75. After a timeout, Penn State-Altoona matched the three, but the Panthers pushed the lead back to four with a Butler free throw and a Norris layup. Butler made two more from the line to push the advantage to 5, but the Lions quickly answered with two straight baskets.
Up 84-83 with 3:30 on the clock, Butler picked up a steal and drove to the basket. In the aftermath of a foul, Butler crashed into the base of the basket and had to be replaced at the line. Boone stepped up and made both free throws to extend the lead to three. The Panther defense stepped up over the next two possessions and kept the Lions off the board while Laster and Norris each made two from the line to put the Panthers ahead 90-83 with just over a minute left. The hosts made one final push in the game, forcing the Panthers into three straight turnovers while scoring 5 unanswered points. The Panthers led by two with 23 seconds remaining but had to come up with one final defensive stop as the hosts had the ball with a chance to tie or win the game. In the final moments, the Lions drove to the basket where Jesse Laster contested the shot, and then fought for the clinching rebound, forcing a jump ball with the arrow in favor of Pitt-Bradford. The Panthers found a way to inbound the ball with 2 seconds remaining and ran out the clock to secure victory.
Xander Norris led all scorers in the game with 27 points. He made 7-14 from the field, including 5-8 from three, and converted all 8 free throws he attempted. Jamarion Butler added 20 points, including 10 from the charity stripe. Jesse Laster recorded his first double-double of the season, scoring 18 points while grabbing a game-high 14 rebounds. Xavion Boone also reached double figures, finishing with 10 points.
The Panthers improve to 15-1 on the season and finish the first rotation of AMCC play with an 8-0 record. They will head right back to the Altoona area over the weekend, as the Panthers travel to Mount Aloysius for a weekend matchup with the Mounties. In their previous game, the Panthers nearly lost a 29-point 2nd-half lead, but held on for a 105-104 victory. Tipoff is slated for 2:00 p.m. at Mount Aloysius's ACWC.
