Pitt wins exhibition finale
PITTSBURGH – Michael Young and Durand Johnson led Pitt with 21 and 19 points respectively as the Panthers registered an 82-71 basketball exhibition win over NCAA Division II Philadelphia University Friday evening at Petersen Events Center.
Pitt shot 69.2 percent and outscored Philadelphia 48-36 in the second half. With the score tied 61-61, Young began a 13-3 run with a jumper, 3-point play and another jumper to give Pitt a 68-61 lead.
Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon was disappointed in his Panthers’ defensive performance as Philadelphia shot 47.5 percent and converted 10 of its 21 3-point attempts.
“We’ve got to get better defensively; we know that,” Dixon said. “They do a lot of things that play against what we do defensively. They spread the floor and we adjusted as the game went on, but I thought we could have handled it better. Give them credit, they’re good. Offensively, we’re pretty good. I think we shoot the ball well. We pass it really well. And we’ve got a pretty good balance inside-out.”
Four Philadelphia players reached double figure scoring led by Derek Johnson, who finished with a game-high 34 points on 12-21 shooting. He also hit seven of his 13 3-point attempts. Peter Alexis finished with 11 points and TJ Huggins and Nick Schlitzer both tallied 10 points apiece.
Fresh off a 79-76 Sunday exhibition win at James Madison, Philadelphia trailed by as many as nine points in the first half, but rallied late to take a 35-34 lead into halftime after Johnson converted two free throws with one second left. Johnson scored 20 of the Rams’ 35 first half points.
For Pitt, Young finished with 21 points (10-16 FG) and hauled in a game-high 11 rebounds, Johnson hit seven of his 10 field goal attempts and 4-7 from 3-point range in totaling his 19 points in only 20 minutes off the bench. Junior point guard James Robinson scored 16 points, dished out eight assists and grabbed six rebounds and Jones added 11 points.