Pitt : Men's Basketball Wins Second Exhibition Game, 82-71 Over Philadelphia

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"PITTSBURGH--Michael Young and Durand Johnson led Pitt with 21 and 19 points respectively as the Panthers registered an 82-71 exhibition win over NCAA Division II Philadelphia University Friday evening at the Petersen Events Center. Pitt opens its 2014-15 regular season on Friday, Nov. 14 against Niagara at the Petersen Events Center. Tipoff for the ESPN3 contest is at 7 p.m.
Pitt shot 69.2 percent (18-26) and outscored Philadelphia 48-36 in the second half. The Panthers took control of the game midway through the second half as they used a 7-0 run to outscore the Rams 13-3 over a six-minute span. With the score tied at 61-61, Young began the rally with a jumper followed by a Johnson 3-point play, then Johnson followed with another jumper to give Pitt a 68-61 lead. Pitt built a secure 74-64 lead with 4:50 left in the game after 3-pointers by sophomore Chris Jones and Johnson.
Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon was disappointed in his Panthers' defensive performance as Philadelphia shot 47.5 percent (28-59) for the game and converted 10 of its 21 3-point attempts (47.6 percent).
"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. We've got to get better defensively. Offensively, we're pretty good. I think we shoot the ball well. We've done that consistently in practice. We pass it really well. And we've got a pretty good balance inside-out, scoring-wise. We did some good things in that regard."
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 (3-4 3FG). Pitt shot 58.9 percent (33-56) of its field goal attempts and registered 20 assists on 33 field goals.
Philadelphia is coached by Hall of Fame inductee Herb Magee, who currently ranks as the all-time winningest coach in NCAA history with 985 wins. Last year, Philadelphia finished 25-7 and won the Central Atlantic Collegiate Conference championship. The Rams enter the 2014-15 season ranked No. 18 nationally by Division II Bulletin and No. 8 nationally by The Sporting News.
The two teams played with a 30-second shot clock as per ACC experimental rules.
Pitt returns three starters and 11 letterwinners from a team that finished 26-10 overall and advanced to its 12th NCAA Tournament in the last 13 seasons. For more information and updated news on Pitt Basketball, follow twitter.com/hailtopitthoops. For more information on the Pitt basketball team check out the 2014-15 Basketball Media Guide, 2014-15 Schedule and 2014-15 Pitt Basketball Prospectus.

PITT-PHILADELPHIA POST-GAME NOTES
*For the second straight exhibition contest, Michael Young finished 20-plus points. Tonight, he scored 21 points with 11 rebounds and finished with 24 points and seven rebounds vs. Indiana, Pa. on Oct. 31. In combining the two exhibition games, Young averaged 22.5 points, 9.0 rebounds and shot 64.3 percent (18-28) from the floor.
*Pitt has won 32 consecutive exhibition games dating back to a 92-90 loss to Marathon Oil on November 3, 1999. Pitt also owns a 26-0 exhibition game record in the Petersen Events Center. It is 22-0 vs. NCAA Division II and NAIA teams since 2004-05.
*Pitt improved to 56-5 all-time in exhibition games for a .918 winning percentage.
*Pitt coach Jamie Dixon owns a perfect 24-0 all-time record in exhibition games.


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This wraps up the pre-season exhibition schedule for the Panthers. The regular season begins next Friday, November 7 at the Petersen Events Center, as the Panthers host the Niagara Purple Eagles.