Pitt started out Monday's final non-conference game with Canisius shooting the ball exceptionally well and an easy win looked to be in the works. Canisius had other ideas as the Golden Griffins pushed the Panthers for 40 minutes before Pitt pull away by a score of 87-79 at the Petersen Events Center.
Pitt's hot start was sparked by freshman forward Justin Champagnie. He scored the game's first 8 points on the way to a 21-point night, which ties a personal career high. The freshman forward from Brooklyn entered Monday's contest shooting 16% from 3-point land, but connected on 5-of-6 from deep to lead the Panthers in scoring.
Pitt also received a strong shooting performance from Ryan Murphy. The junior college transfer scored 16 points, including four 3-pointers. Xavier Johnson supplied 16 points and 8 assists along with four steals. Trey McGowens added 14, while Au'Diese Toney supplied 13.
The story of the game came down to one simple statistic: rebounding. The Golden Griffins out-rebounded the Panthers 34-31, but the key stat was offensive rebounds. Canisius grabbed 17 offensive boards and turned that into 18 second-chance points, which kept the game close throughout the afternoon.
Canisius also benefited from a strong performance from junior guard Majesty Brandon, who scored 20 points, with 16 coming in the second half. As a team Canisius connected on eight 3-pointers, including six in the second half as Pitt struggled to rotate to the open shooter in the zone defense.
Pitt committed 17 turnovers as a team and the Golden Griffins turned those into 14 points.On a positive note Pitt shot 50% from the field, and 56.3 from 3-point land, both significant jumps from the team's season average.
Pitt freshman forward Gerald Drumgoole returned to action after missing the past 8 games with an ankle injury. He scored four points and grabbed two rebounds.
The Panthers pulled away some in the final minutes to secure the win. Pitt improves to 10-3 on the season and will shift attention to 18-straight ACC games once the New Year begins. Pitt plays host to Wake Forest at noon on Saturday at the Petersen Events Center.
