Pittsburgh Panthers sneak past Maryland Terrapins
The Pittsburgh Panthers were able to sneak past the Maryland Terrapins with the help of freshman Talib Zanna, who had his best game of the year en route to a 79-70 Panthers victory, which advanced the club to the finals of the 2K Sports Classic.
The Panthers are expected to do major damage coming out of the Big East this season. Favoured to win their conference, Pittsburgh has shown they are one of college basketball’s top teams in 2010-11 and currently own a 4-0 record.
Meanwhile, the Terrapins were expected to struggle in the Atlantic Coast Conference this season, but have had a strong start to the season, going unbeaten in their first three games before being defeated by the Panthers on Thursday 18 November.
The Panthers are used to getting strong performance from guards Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker, but when the two were unable to generate their usual brand of offence, Zanna took over.
“He played well this summer and continues to improve. He works very hard,” Pittsburgh head coach Jamie Dixon told the Associated Press. “He’s a guy that wasn’t ranked high and you know what that means, but he’s good and again, we recruit guys where they’re
going to be, not where they’re at and if you have a desire to get better and want to get better and you’re willing to pay the price, that’s what you get. He’s getting better.”
The Panthers were able go on a run at the end of the first half and took a slim four-point lead into the second stanza. The Terrapins battled back and tied the game at 46. However, the Panthers took over the game late and were able to steal a victory against
the underdog Terrapins.
Zanna netted 14 points and 12 rebounds for the Panthers, while Gibbs slotted home 13 points and Wanamaker managed 10 points.
The Terrapins were led by centre Cliff Tucker, who contributed 17 points, five assists and three rebounds. However, it was Maryland’s poor free-throw shooting that let them down in the end, as the club was only able to make 14 of 30.
“Of course it’s a concern,” Terrapins head coach Gary Williams told the Associated Press. “We make our free throws the first half, we probably have a lead. What are you going to do?”
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