Pitt controls rebounds, beats Maryland 79-70
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Pitt's Gilbert Brown protects the ball from Maryland's Sean Mosley in the first half of Thursday's game at Madison Square Garden in New York. -
Pitt's Gilbert Brown drives past Maryland's Sean Mosley in the first half. -
Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon looks on in the second half. -
Maryland's Jordan Williams dunks the ball on Pitt's Talib Zanna in the second half. -
Pitt's Dante Taylor dunks the ball on Maryland's Jordan Williams in the second half. -
Maryland's Cliff Tucker drives past Pitt's Travon Woodall and Ashton Gibbs in the first half. -
Maryland head coach Gary Williams reacts to a call in the first half. -
Pitt's Brad Wanamaker drives past Maryland's Dino Gregory (33) in the first half. -
Maryland head coach Gary Williams talks to his team in the first half.
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NEW YORK -- There will be games when Pitt's offense is stagnant. And although it won't happen very often, there will be nights when the defense is subpar, too.
Both of those things happened for long stretches Thursday night against Maryland. But one of the programs other constants was the reason the fifth-ranked Panthers escaped with a 79-70 victory in a semifinal game of the 2K Sports Classic benefiting Coaches vs. Cancer at Madison Square Garden.
Pitt showed off its rebounding prowess and earned a place in the championship game tonight against Texas, which defeated Illinois, 90-84, in the other semifinal game.
The Panthers (4-0) outrebounded the Terrapins, 49-28, and gave the Terrapins a taste of Big East basketball.
"If not for the rebounding, I don't know how that game would have went," forward Gilbert Brown said.
It was a good thing the Panthers dominated the glass because Maryland controlled other facets of the game. The Terrapins shot 48 percent from the field, held Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker in check and forced 16 turnovers.
But Pitt's dominance on the backboards was enough to overcome those deficiencies.
Redshirt freshman forward Talib Zanna was the most dominant player. He recorded his first career double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. He was 5 for 7 from the field and keyed an early second-half surge when the Panthers took a double-digit lead.
"Rebounding is our No. 1 goal," Zanna said. "We want to dominate the boards. We won the rebounding battle by 20 tonight, so we did that."
Zanna led a balanced offensive attack. Four other players scored in double figures. Gibbs scored 13 points, Brown and Travon Woodall added 11 apiece and Wanamaker had 10.
After a terrible offensive performance in the first half, when they made only 9 of 30 shots from the field, the Panthers turned the tables in the second half and made 16 of 24 shots.
"We had missed layups and had turnovers in the first half," Brown said. "Like a lot of the ACC teams we play, they like to speed up the game. We just had to play more patient, and that's what we did in the second half."
Even though Maryland shot 48 percent from the field, Pitt made its secondary players make baskets. Sophomore center Jordan Williams, who was averaging 21 points entering the game, was held to 14. He attempted nine shots, and the Panthers also held him to eight rebounds, six below his season average.
Pitt coach Jamie Dixon had Gary McGhee and Dante Taylor assigned to guard Williams, but he also deployed some double teams early to take Williams out of his rhythm.
First Published November 19, 2010 12:00 am
