Bradford, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's basketball team used their extensive depth to defeat LaRoche on Saturday afternoon. The Pitt-Bradford bench scored 57 points to lead the Panthers to a 101-81 victory.
Pitt-Bradford started slow, and the visitors took advantage, scoring the first 5 points of the game. After 90 seconds of action, Braylen Salters got the Panthers on the board, converting a Keshon Kittrell steal into a layup. He then answered a La Roche putback with a pull-up three to cut the early deficit to two. Following a La Roche layup and a timeout, Rodd Yarbrough made two baskets to tie the game at 9. The visitors quickly answered with 5 straight points, but the Panthers regained control as Xavion Boone made a putback layup and Coby Farley followed a fast break layup with a corner three to give Pitt-Bradford their first lead of the game.
LaRoche tied the game at 16 from the free throw line, but the Panthers responded with a Jeremy Rodriguez layup and a Xander Norris three. After the Redhawks cut the lead to one, Jamarion Butler made a highlight play on both ends of the court to firmly put momentum on the Panthers' side. Butler blocked a three-point attempt at the top of the key, collected the rebound, and raced to the basket for a fast-break dunk. The play started a 10-2 Pitt-Bradford run. In the rally, Butler added another layup and Kittrell and Farley made back-to-back threes.
Over the next five minutes, the Panther lead fluctuated between 8 and 13 points. Leading 50-41 with 2 minutes remaining in the half, the Panthers caught fire from beyond the arc. Rodriguez made consecutive threes and then Salters added a third a possession later. Unfortunately, Pitt-Bradford could not pull away from the Redhawks with the hot stretch, as La Roche answered each three and then scored the final three points of the 1st half to send the game to the break with Pitt-Bradford leading 59-48.
The Panthers got off to another slow start to begin the second half, allowing the Redhawks to score six of the first eight points of the period. Butler slowed the La Roche rally with a layup, however, the visitors pushed on and after six minutes of action, cut the lead down to four points. Boone made a layup through contact to temporarily return momentum to the Panther end. Pitt-Bradford locked down defensively for the next two minutes and added three free throws over the span to push the lead back to nine.
La Roche made a final push, scoring five straight to cut their deficit back to 5, but another Boone lay-up began a 16-5 Pitt-Bradford run which returned control back to the Panthers. The rally included 12 straight points from Salters, as the freshman took over for a three-minute stretch. He began the run with back-to-back layups, and then after two LaRoche free throws and a timeout, he made threes on consecutive possessions. He closed the run with an acrobatic layup on the fast break to put the Panthers ahead 87-72.
Norris and Rodriguez made short jumpers to keep the Panther lead intact and Pitt-Bradford converted 10 of 12 free throws down the stretch to put the game away.
Braylen Salters finished with a game-high 22 points. He made 8-13 from the field, including 4 of 4 from beyond the arc. Jeremy Rodriguez added 18 points, shooting 50% in the win, while also grabbing 6 rebounds. Xander Norris made 9 of 10 from the line to finish with 14 points, while Coby Farley scored 13 in 12 minutes of action. Jamarion Butler was limited to 11 points but was able to register his 6th double-double of the season, collecting 10 rebounds.
Prior to the start of the game, the Panthers took a few moments to celebrate Jamarion Butler, who breached the 1,000 career point milestone earlier this season. In his career, Butler has scored 877 points in 2 seasons with the Panthers, while totaling 382 in two seasons at the junior college level. Butler was presented with a painted game ball, memorializing the accomplishment.
The win moves the Panthers to 17-1 on the season with a 10-0 mark in AMCC play. They will return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 5th, when they travel to the Buffalo area for a matchup with Hilbert. The Panthers defeated the Hawks 117-103 in their first matchup this season. The game is scheduled for a 5:00 p.m. start, as it is the first game of a doubleheader with the women's team.
