Hamburg, NY -- The University of Pittsburgh at Bradford men's basketball team was on the road Wednesday night as they traveled to the Buffalo area for a matchup with Hilbert. Panther guard Jeremy Rodriguez reached the 1,000 point milestone and led the Panthers with 35 points as they defeated the Hawks 109-105.
Both teams started the game efficiently on the offensive end, as the hosts scored 5 points on their first three possessions, while the Panthers answered with a Rodriguez jumper and a dunk by Clarence Cobbins. Niare Poplar made a three to give the Panthers their first lead, but the Hawks answered and remained tied with or slightly ahead of the Panthers for the next two minutes. After grabbing an offensive rebound, David Ramos found Tra Edwards open for a three to put Pitt-Bradford back in the lead. Edwards added a layup after a Maki Hill bucket to extend the Panthers lead to six. Following a Hilbert three, Coby Farley scored five straight to answer a three on the other end to give Pitt-Bradford a 23-18 advantage.
With 11:!5 remaining in the half, Rodriguez sank a three to start a 14-3 Panther run. Cobbins and Xander Norris each had baskets inside during the rally, while Hill scored 4, and Kaleb Pryor punctuated the run with a three. Hilbert cut into the lead with a 10-3 rally, but Rodriguez was able to slow it down when he stole the ball in the back court and sank another three, which put him over the 1,000 point milestone. He added two more driving layups late in the half, but the hosts closed the period with an 8-0 run to send the game to halftime with the Panthers leading 52-49.
Niare Poplar started the second half with a layup, and then, after Hilbert cut the lead to 1 with back-to-back baskets, Rodriguez and Poplar matched them to restore the lead. Pitt-Bradford stayed in front of the Hawks with free throws and a dunk by Cobbins and a Rodriguez three with 15:01 on the clock. They were not able to maintain their momentum offensively, and the hosts took advantage, scoring 10 in a row to retake the lead and force a Pitt-Bradford timeout.
The timeout broke the Hawks' momentum, and after a turnover, Rodriguez made a shot inside to end the drought. Farley cut the deficit to 1 with a three, but the Hawks quickly pushed their lead to 9 points with an 8-0 rally. Trailing by 6 with 7:41 remaining, Poplar converted consecutive layups, but the Panthers could not find a third basket to tie the game, and Hilbert matched the layups with two of their own. Rodriguez scored 5 points around a Hilbert basket to cut the deficit to three, and then, after a timeout, Norris drained a step-back three to tie the game at 89. Following a Hilbert free throw, Norris made another from deep, but the Hawks quickly matched to stay in front.
Pryor drew a foul on the ensuing possession and, after sinking two from the line, picked up a steal and found Norris again for an open three. A Rodriguez layup put the Panthers up by six with 2:54 to go, but the hosts were not done, scoring 5 straight and 8 of 10 points to tie the game at 101 with just over a minute remaining. Rodriguez found the answer on his big night, sinking another long ball with 48 seconds on the clock to give Pitt-Bradford a lead they would not relinquish. Hilbert cut into the late lead with a layup, but Cobbins and Poplar combined to hit 5 of 6 free throws down the stretch to put the game away.
Jeremy Rodriguez led the Panthers with 35 points. He made 15-21 from the field, including 5-8 from three. He also tallied 5 steals. Niare Poplar and Coby Farley each scored 17 for the Panthers. Xander Norris used three big three-pointers to finish with 11, while Clarence Cobbins scored 10 points to go along with 4 rebounds, 3 assists, and 5 steals. David Ramos led the team in rebounds with 5.
Pitt-Bradford will be back in action on Saturday, when they close their campaign with a matchup against Pitt-Greensburg. Tipoff is scheduled for approximately 4:00 p.m.
