Pitt uses another strong second half to beat Sacred Heart

Pitt returned to the Petersen Events Center Saturday afternoon following a three-game road trip, and the Panthers immediately made themselves at home.

For this year’s Pitt team, though, the familiarity of home means that Saturday’s game against Sacred Heart looked an awful lot like the Panthers’ wins over Alabama State, Fairleigh Dickinson and William & Mary, which is to say, they started off slow and kept an opponent from a low or mid-major conference in the game for the first 20 minutes before taking over in the second half.

Such was the case on Saturday, as Pitt’s 9-0 start to open the game against Sacred Heart turned into a back-and-forth affair over the final 12 minutes of the first half and a slim five-point lead at halftime. But it only took a few minutes into the second half before the Panthers pulled away, and behind strong point guard play from Nelly Cummings and matchup exploitation from Federiko Federiko, they did exactly that to beat the Pioneers 91-66.

Cummings had more on his plate than usual after starting guard Jamarius Burton sat out Saturday’s game due to knee inflammation. As such, Cummings played the first 38 minutes and three seconds, only coming out when Capel subbed in walk-on KJ Marshall.

Cummings made the most of his time, though, scoring a season-high 28 points and matching his season high with six rebounds while also handing out five assists.

Cummings put in a standout performance, but Federiko was the game’s star. The junior-college transfer got the starting assignment after head coach Jeff Capel decided to bring junior center John Hugley off the bench in the wake of Hugley’s 10-point/2-rebound performance in the last three games combined.

With a significant height advantage, Federiko delivered, recording his first career double-double by scoring 17 points and grabbing 14 rebounds - including an eye-popping 10 offensive boards.

The size advantage extended beyond Federiko, though. Sacred Heart’s tallest starter was 6-foot-6, and the box score reflected that as the Panthers doubled-up on the Pioneers while working the glass, grabbing 54 rebounds - 28 more than Sacred Heart’s 26.

Even Blake Hinson got in the act, putting up his third double-double of the season with 19 points and 11 rebounds.

With the win, Pitt improved to 7-4 overall. The Panthers will close non-conference play next Saturday against North Florida at the Petersen Events Center, and while they have a 1-0 start to the ACC schedule after beating N.C. State last week, it will be imperative to eliminate the slow starts once conference play starts with a road trip to Syracuse on Dec. 20.