Bradford, PA -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford picked up their first conference win of the season on Monday evening, defeating La Roche 102-96. The Panthers trailed by double digits multiple times in the first half, but erased a 6-point halftime deficit, outscoring the Redhawks 57-45 in the second half.
The visitors came out of the gate on fire, scoring on five of their first 6 possessions to build an early 10-2 lead. Tra Edwards ended the rally with a three, and Kaleb Pryor answered a La Roche layup with one of his own, but the Redhawks kept pushing the pace to build a 20-8 advantage. With 12:30 to go, a Clarence Cobbins dunk energized the Panthers, who quickly forced two straight turnovers with their press and turned them into layups by Niare Poplar and Cobbins, halving the deficit in less than a minute. A La Roche time-out failed to stop the momentum, and the Panthers scored the next 8 points to take their first lead. Jeremy Rodriguez made a pair of layups around a Coby Farley three before Edwards sank two from the line to tie the game at 25.
Poplar added a layup to put the Panthers in front, but the lead was short-lived, as LaRoche responded with a 12-4 run of their own. Rodriguez converted an old-fashioned three-point play to slow the run; however, the visitors hit back-to-back threes and a dunk to push their advantage to 11. With 90 seconds to go in the first half, Maki Hill pulled up for three, beginning a 9-2 run to close the period. After a La Roche layup, Hill tipped in a rebound, and then Cobbins pulled in a rebound and went coast-to-coast for a layup. Pitt-Bradford got another defensive stop, and then with just over a second on the clock, Rodriguez beat the buzzer with a midrange jumper to end the half trailing 51-45.
Edwards began the second half with a corner three, and then after an exchange of layups, Pryor hit one from the wing to cut the lead to 2 after two minutes. La Roche slowly pushed their lead back to seven with two fast break buckets around a Panther turnover, before Hill sank two threes around a Poplar layup to put the Panthers down 65-64. After La Roche answered a pair of Cobbins' free throws with a three, Poplar tied the game with two free throws of his own, and then threw down a dunk to give the Panthers a lead they would not relinquish.
Following a Redhawks three and a timeout, which cut the lead to one with 12:30 remaining, Xander Norris hit a clutch long ball to cancel out the La Roche three. Leading 77-74, Rodriguez sank a midrange jumper, which started another Panther run. He then picked up steals on consecutive possessions, which led to a Cobbins layup and a three-point play for Pryor. Edwards and Hill tacked on pull-up jumpers to cap the 11-0 rally that extended the Pitt-Bradford advantage to 14 points.
La Roche worked to cut into the deficit over the next five minutes; however, jump shots from Hill, Rodriguez, and Norris kept the lead at 7. Norris swished a turnaround jumper to put the Panthers up 94-85 with 3:47 on the clock, but the visitors had one more push in the game. They went on a 9-2 run that saw them trim the lead to two points with a minute remaining. After running the clock down, Norris made a clutch jump shot with 32 seconds left, and then the Panthers clamped down defensively, getting a huge stop to keep the two-possession lead intact. Rodriguez made two free throws, and then, after LaRoche answered with two of their own, he sank two more to put the game to bed.
Jeremy Rodriguez led the Panthers with 23 points. He made 9-15 from the field, and all 5 free throws he attempted. He also tallied 7 rebounds, 2 assists, and 5 steals. Maki Hill scored 15 points in 19 minutes of play, making 6-9 from the field, including 3-4 from beyond the arc. Clarence Cobbins added 14 points, while Tra Edwards made 4-6 from the field and 3-4 from deep to finish with 13 points. Niare Poplar added 10 points and grabbed a team-high 8 rebounds.
The Panthers move to 6-3 with the win and now have a 1-2 mark in AMCC Play. They will bring their fall semester to a close over the weekend, as they head to John Carroll University to play in the JCU Classic. The Panthers will take on Chatham at 4:00 p.m. Saturday, before facing Penn State-Harrisburg on Sunday.
