A Shawn Spindler dunk at the buzzer seemed to vent the
frustrations of a disappointing season as the Pitt-Bradford
Panthers ended the 2005-06 basketball campaign with a 64-53
Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference win over La Roche College
at the Sport & Fitness Center on Saturday.

The Panthers, who finish at 11-14 overall and in seventh place
(8-10) in the AMCC, will not participate in the post-season
tournament for the first time in the nine-year history of the
league. Pitt-Bradford was on the short end of the stick in the
tiebreakers with La Roche (8-10) and Frostburg State (8-10), and
was officially eliminated Friday night.

“It was a tough year,” said Andy Moore, who had just completed
his 13th year (212-139) as Pitt-Bradford head coach. “We had seven
losses by four points or less. It was a very frustrating year.”

In the meaningless contest with the Redhawks, the visitors
jumped out to an 11-5 lead, but the Panthers went on a 15-2 run to
open a 20-13 advantage with 8:58 left in the half.

Four minutes later it was a 14-point lead (29-15) when seven
straight Redhawk points cut the disparity to 29-22 with 3:54
showing.

A layup by Spindler made it 37-24 with 36 ticks left, but a
three-pointer from Josh Rulnick whittled the Panthers’ halftime
margin to 37-27.

The Pitt-Bradford lead in the second half wavered between six
and 10 points until a layin by Stacy Grady pulled the team from
Pittsburgh within one (47-46) with 6:50 remaining.

Dan Thomas then scored eight straight points to give the
Panthers a more comfortable cushion at 55-46 with 3:26 left.

A bomb from the left corner by Steve Lucas cut the La Roche
deficit to 55-52 at the 2:32 juncture.

Ryan Race then canned a jumper in the paint, Sean DePue followed
with a three-pointer and Thomas converted a pair of free throws for
a 59-52 Pitt-Bradford margin with 46 ticks showing.

“We had other games this year where we had leads and couldn’t
finish the game,” Moore noted. “Tonight we made enough plays to
finish.”

Spindler then placed the cherry on top with a one-handed
windmill flush just before the horn sounded.

Thomas had 17 points, Race grabbed 13 rebounds and DePue drilled
his initial four trifecta attempts for 12 points.

The Panthers lose only graduating senior (junior eligibility)
Louis Benton from the squad.

“We have a lot of guys coming back and they need to work this
summer to get better,” Moore concluded.