Bradford, Pa. -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's basketball team earned a spot in the AMCC Championship Tournament final for the first time since the 2009-10 season. The #1-seeded Panthers defeated the 5 seed, LaRoche 87-76 in front of a packed KOA Arena in Friday night's semifinal.
The visiting Redhawks struck first, opening the scoring with a three-pointer late in the shot clock, but Jamarion Butler immediately answered with a three of his own, followed by a layup. Butler broke another tie, driving the lane for two, but the Redhawks came back with threes on back-to-back possessions to take an 11-7 lead after four minutes of action. La Roche would maintain this lead for the next ten minutes of gametime, answering each Pitt-Bradford basket with one of their own.
The Panthers finally tied the game at the 6:28 mark when Keshon Kittrell found Jeremy Rodriguez for a three to level the score at 21. Pitt-Bradford took a short-lived lead a possession later when Rodriguez made one of two from the line, but the Redhawks went back in front with a 6-0 run to force a Panther timeout. Trailing 27-21, Xander Norris made a three from the right wing and then after a La Roche layup, drove to the basket for a tough layup through contact. The Redhawks made two free throws before Butler and Rodriguez each found room inside for layups, tying the score at 31 with 1:28 remaining in the half. The teams exchanged baskets in the final minute and the visitors made one free throw in the final seconds to end the half with Pitt-Bradford trailing 34-33.
Pitt-Bradford came out of the halftime break firing on all cylinders, as Jesse Laster drove to the basket and completed a three point play just 8 seconds after the restart. The Panthers quickly forced a turnover and then Rodriguez made a short jumper, putting the Panthers up 4. La Roche responded by scoring the next 6 points, unanswered. Rodriguez ended the rally, hitting a three on another Kittrell assist and then on the following possession, found Laster at the top of the key for a second longball to restore the 4-point edge.
With just over 12 minutes remaining, La Roche cut the lead to two from the free throw line, but Braylen Salters turned the momentum back to Pitt-Bradford as the freshman made back-to-back layups through contact, converting the second into a three-point play. A Yarbrough and-one was followed by two Rodriguez freethrows to extend the lead to 12. The Redhawks made one more push, scoring seven in a row to cut their deficit to five, however it was rebuffed as Rodriguez sank a three to end the rally.
Yarbrough made four straight free throws with five minutes left in the game to give the Panthers a double-digit lead. After La Roche scored 4 straight with a jumper and a dunk, Pitt-Bradford rallied, scoring the next 9 points to push their advantage to 16 points, the largest of the game. Butler started the run, making a three-point play before Laster stole the inbounds and made a layup through contact for three more. Rodriguez closed the run with 4 straight from the charity stripe. He put the game away down the stretch with a layup and a free throw, while LaRoche scored the last 4 of the game, putting the final difference at 11 points.
Jeremy Rodriguez led the Panthers, scoring a game-high 25 points. Jamarion Butler kept the Panthers afloat early, scoring 14 of his 19 points in the first half. Rodd Yarbrough and Braylen Salters added 12 and 11 points off the bench respectively.
The win moves the Panthers to 22-3 on the year and places them in the AMCC Championship Game. They will take on #3 Penn State-Altoona, who defeated Pitt-Greensburg 99-78 in the other semifinal. Tipoff is slated for 3:00 p.m. in KOA Arena.
