Pitt Basketball: Panthers Defeat Hawaii-Hilo
By Matt Shetler
This time it was a little bit more convincing.
After struggling early in their first exhibition game against IUP, the Pitt Panthers had no such problems Friday night in the final exhibition game against Hawaii-Hilo.
The Panthers scored the first eight points of the game and never looked back, en route to a 77-45 victory at the Petersen Events Center.
Pitt scored 48 points in the paint on the night and were led by juniors J.J. Moore and Talib Zanna who each had13 points and freshman Steven Adams who grabbed 10 rebounds.
When it was all said and done, 11 different Panthers played in this one (all playing at least 10 minutes) and everyone that played found a way into the scoring column.
Pitt scored 16 of the game’s first 18 points behind a balanced offensive attack, but it was the defense that looked more like a Jamie Dixon coached defensive team as they held Hawaii-Hilo to just four points and led 27-4 with 9:47 left in the first half. In addition, the Panthers were able to turn their defense into offense as they turned 15 Hawaii-Hilo turnovers into 19 points first half points in taking a 39-21 advantage into the locker room.
The effort on defense was just as good in the second half as they held the Vulcans to only 26.7 (8-30) percent shooting clip in outscoring Hawaii-Hilo 38-24.
The Panthers are back in action when they open regular season play at the Petersen Events Center against Mount St. Mary’s on Friday, Nov. 9 at 6 p.m. ET.