Pitt improves to 12-1 with 92-58 win over Maryland-Eastern Shore
By Brett Tunno
The Pitt Panthers were too athletic and talented for the Maryland-Eastern Shore Hawks. The junior forward trio of Michael Young, Jamel Artis, and Sheldon Jeter continued to dominate in a 92-58 blowout.
Pitt started off the New Year by taking care of Maryland-Eastern Shore in their final non-conference tune-up before going through the ACC gauntlet.
It was a strange game to follow the intense Pitt/ Syracuse battle last Wednesday, and there was certainly a possibility of a letdown. Head coach Jamie Dixon made sure that was not the case, and Pitt completely had their way with Maryland-Eastern.
The Hawks were led by six-foot-six junior guard Bakari Copeland’s 16 points in the first half. Pitt only led by six at the half (39-33), primarily due to the Hawks 48% field goal shooting percentage.
Junior forward Sheldon Jeter came off the bench and provided a big lift to the Panthers, chipping in eight points and two blocks during the first half.
Five minutes into the game, a Copeland layup gave the Hawks an 11-7 advantage. Eight minutes into the game, a Copeland free throw extended the lead to 16-11.
The Panthers surged ahead, as Jeter dunked from an alley-oop pass by James Robinson to give Pitt a 29-22 lead. A Devin Martin three-pointer cut the lead to 33-31, but Jeter and Artis extended the lead to six at the half.
In the beginning of the second half, Sterling Smith made a free throw and a three-pointer to extend Pitt’s lead to double digits 43-33.
Martin and Copeland responded with a few layups to cut the Pitt lead to 44-39.
Pitt then blew the game open on a 9-0 run to lead by 14, as Michael Young and Artis were too much to handle.
With 12:35 to go, an Artis jumper made it 58-41 Pitt, their biggest advantage of the game thus far.
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The onslaught then continued, as the Hawks were no match for the size and athleticism of the Panthers. Richmond graduate transfer center Alonzo Nelson-Ododa was too much inside for the Hawks.
A Ryan Luther dunk and a Sterling Smith three-pointer extended the Pitt lead to 30, as the score was 81-51 with 4:15 remaining.
Other Panthers such as true freshman point guard Damon Wilson Jr, redshirt freshman guard Cameron Johnson, and sophomore forward Ryan Luther got extended playing time amid the blowout.
The leading scorers for Pitt (12-1, 1-0 ACC) were Young and Artis with 14 points each, while Jeter added 13 points off the bench on 6 of 8 shooting, and Sterling Smith chipped in 12 points.
For Maryland-Eastern Shore (3-13, 0-2 MEAC), Copeland scored 23 points, senior guard Devin Martin scored 13 points, and senior forward Dominique Elliott added 12 points and 10 rebounds. Only three other players scored in the game.
Pitt dominated in all facets of the game, with a higher field goal percentage (55 to 37 percent), more assists (25 to 12), more rebounds (42 to 25), more blocks (7 to 2), more steals (9 to 5), and less turnovers (12 to 17).
Going into this week, ESPN had Pitt No. 25 in their Power Rankings. With today’s win and their victory against Syracuse, it is highly likely that we will see Pitt back in the AP Top 25 this week.
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Pitt will host Georgia Tech on Wednesday. The Yellow Jackets hung with No. 7 North Carolina for awhile today, but they went on to lose 86-78 in Chapel Hill.