The encounter between the Panthers and the Lions didn’t turn out
to be much of a cat fight as Pitt-Bradford demonstrated foul line
perfection in cruising to an 80-63 Allegheny Mountain Collegiate
Conference victory over Penn State Altoona at the Sport &
Fitness Center on Saturday night.
Although it may read like the ultimate homer job, Altoona shot
just three free throws all evening while Pitt-Bradford was setting
a new team record by canning all 18 attempts from the charity
stripe.
“We spend a lot of time on our free throw shooting in practice
and it’s starting to pay off,” said Andy Moore, Pitt-Bradford head
coach.
The Panthers roared out to a 7-0 lead and never had to check the
rearview mirror as the hosts improved to 6-5 overall and 3-1 in the
AMCC.
“We’re excited to be 3-1 in the conference and we have to keep
winning to stay in the race,” Moore declared. “We shot the ball
real well (16-for-27) from the floor in the first half. We made the
extra pass and got some good looks.”
Pitt-Bradford was looking good from the outset as a
three-pointer and a 17-footer by Rob Copley, and a layup by Ryan
Race staked the Panthers to the aforementioned 7-zip advantage just
three minutes into the contest.
A pair of layins by Sean DePue widened the lead to 16-4, but the
Lions cut their deficit to 16-11 with 10:17 showing.
“I was happy that Sean DePue got going and made some shots,”
Moore stated.
The Panthers’ margin fluctuated between seven and 12 points over
the next seven minutes, but Pitt-Bradford finalized the half on a
7-0 spurt to take a comfortable 44-27 lead into the
intermission.
Pitt-Bradford opened its initial 20-point lead when Race’s
12-footer made it 55-34 with 14:27 left and then a trifecta from
the right wing by Justin Elmore gave the Panthers their biggest
bulge of the night (66-40) at the 8:37 juncture.
Then with 3:13 remaining, the crowd bellowed out a collective
“wow” when Louis Benton crossed under the basket, and kissed a
reverse layup high off the glass and through the twine for a 78-54
Pitt-Bradford lead.
“That (Benton bucket) was a nice shot,” Moore recalled. “It was
good to get all the guys into the game.”
A pair of free throws by John Slackman then equaled the
Panthers’ largest advantage at 80-54, but the visitors registered
the last nine feel-good tallies for the final 17-point
differential.
Race led all scorers with 25 points on 9-for-14 from the field,
and DePue and Copley contributed 11 points each for the Panthers.
Mike Dancer stepped in with 15 points for the Lions (3-6, 0-3).
“Matt Durbin (assistant coach) and I were noticing how he is
getting better and better every game,” Moore said of Race, the 6-3
junior from Bradford who is leading the AMCC in scoring at 25.6 per
game. “He is durable and doesn’t like to be taken out of a
game.”
The Panthers’ next contest is Saturday at rival Penn State
Behrend (8 p.m.).
