Pitt ends St. John's winning streak at 3
Pittsburgh's Lamar Patterson (21) drives past St. John's Phil Greene in the first half. (Feb. 29, 2012) Credit: AP
PITTSBURGH -- Ashton Gibbs scored 19 points in his final home game as Pittsburgh snapped a five-game losing streak Wednesday night with an 89-69 victory over St. John's. The Red Storm had won three in a row.
Pitt's Dante Taylor had a career-high 17 points while making all eight of his shots. JJ Moore added 14 for the Panthers (16-14, 5-12 Big East), who shot a season-best 63.3 percent (31-for-49) from the floor.
D'Angelo Harrison scored 21 points and Phil Greene had 18 for the Red Storm (13-17, 6-11). St. John's upset Notre Dame on Saturday at Madison Square Garden but failed to play with the same intensity on the road.
Pitt opened the second half with a 14-4 run to break it open and cruised from there. The Panthers need to win the Big East Tournament to have any shot at qualifying for the NCAAs.
It was the kind of game the Panthers expected more of this season, but the defending Big East champions have stumbled all winter. The Panthers have struggled mightily to score points in conference play, coming in ranked in the bottom three in the 16-team league in field- goal percentage, three-point percentage and points per game.
For a night, at least, those concerns disappeared.
The Red Storm did its best to keep pace despite its youth-laden roster that includes five freshmen starters. Harrison knocked down three three-pointers in the first half as St. John's kept it close until just before the break. Pitt scored the final four points of the half to take a 38-33 lead, and for once the Panthers didn't let up.
The lead ballooned to 24 before the Red Storm's press rattled Pitt, cutting it to 74-62 with about 5 minutes to go. Gibbs made a jumper and Tray Woodall hit an acrobatic layup to lift Pitt out of danger.
