National Basketball Association
Pittsburgh 89, St. John's 69
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Where: Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Officials:
# Evon Burroughs, # Tim Higgins, # Michael Stephens
Attendance:
9449
By SportsDirect Inc.
PITTSBURGH 89, ST. JOHN'S 69: Ashton Gibbs broke out of a slump with 19 points in his final home game, and Dante Taylor added 17 on 8-for-8 shooting as the host Panthers snapped a five-game losing streak.
J.J. Moore posted 14 points in his fourth straight double-digit effort off the bench, while Lamar Patterson had 13 points, seven assists and five rebounds for Pittsburgh (16-14, 5-12 Big East).
St. John's (13-17, 6-11), which plays only a six-man rotation that features a starting lineup of all freshmen, saw its three-game win streak end as it allowed Pittsburgh to shoot 64.6 percent.
D'Angelo Harrison set the freshman scoring mark and finished with 21 points for the Red Storm, who also got 18 from Phil Greene and 17 from God'sgift Achiuwa.
A 14-4 run to open the second half, keyed by three-point plays from Patterson and Taylor plus a Tray Woodall 3-pointer, gave Pittsburgh a 52-37 advantage with 16:11 remaining. Moore's 3-pointer pushed the margin to 67-44, Pittsburgh's largest of the night, five minutes later.
The Panthers took a 38-33 halftime lead, their first at the break since a Feb. 5 victory over Villanova. Before erupting in the second half Wednesday, the 38 points were also Pittsburgh's highest output for a half since that game.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Gibbs passed Sam Clancy for ninth on Pittsburgh's scoring list. … Harrison broke Erick Barkley's freshman record of 500 points. … Moe Harkless, who leads St. John's in rebounding and is second in scoring, was hobbled by a bad ankle and had four points. … The Panthers finished 11-7 at the Petersen Events Center, after losing only 12 games there over the previous nine seasons since it opened.
Top Game Performances
| St. John's |
|
Pittsburgh |
|
D'Angelo Harrison 21 |
Scoring |
Ashton Gibbs 19 |
|
Phil Greene 7 |
Assists |
Lamar Patterson 7 |
|
Amir Garrett 6 |
Rebounds |
Dante Taylor 8 |
|
Amir Garrett 5 |
Free Throws Made |
J.J. Moore 5 |
|
Amir Garrett 3 |
Steals |
J.J. Moore 2 |
|
God'sgift Achiuwa 1 |
Blocks |
Malcolm Gilbert 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| St. John's
|
69 |
50.0 |
6-14 |
11-15 |
10 |
14 |
1 |
10 |
12 |
| Pittsburgh
|
89 |
63.3 |
10-21 |
17-21 |
20 |
30 |
3 |
6 |
16 |