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No. 3 Pitt tops Duquesne in City Game

Dec 2, 2010 - 8:30 AM Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Ashton Gibbs scored 22 points and Gary McGhee supplied 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds as No. 3 Pittsburgh held off Duquesne, 80-66, to win the 79th City Game.

Nasir Robinson provided 14 points and pulled down 12 boards for the Panthers (8-0), who have won 10 in a row over their cross-town rivals, the longest such streak in the history of the series.

Wednesday's game marked the first time basketball was played in CONSOL Energy Center, home of the NHL's Pittsburgh Penguins. It drew a crowd of nearly 13,000 people.

"It was a terrific atmosphere," said Pitt head coach Jamie Dixon. "You're talking about December, and seeing a game like that this early on is almost unheard of in college basketball right now. This was a big game in a big facility."

Bill Clark scored 20 points while Damian Saunders totaled 20 points and 11 rebounds for the Dukes (3-2), who had won their previous two games.

Duquense raced out to a 9-2 lead just over two minutes into the game before the Panthers fashioned a 16-3 surge to grab a six-point lead with 11 1/2 minutes left before the break.

The Pitt lead grew to as many as 15 as they took a 42-28 advantage into the intermission.

Clark's three-pointer cut the Dukes' deficit to 49-40 inside 14 1/2 minutes to play before the Panthers posted the next nine points to push the lead to 18 with just over 13 minutes remaining.

Duquesne got as close as 11 but never really threatened the rest of the way.

Game Notes

Pitt has won 29 of the last 32 meetings and leads the all-time series, 48-31. Duquesne's last win came in 2000...Last year's game was the final basketball game played at Mellon Arena...The Panthers hold a 22-14 edge in games played at a neutral site...Gibbs hit 7-of-11 from the field, including 4-of-8 from three-point range, and grabbed five rebounds...The rest of the Panthers made just 1-of-12 from long range...Pitt shot 48.4 percent while holding the Dukes to 36.2 percent shooting (25-of-69)...Duquesne made 8-of-25 from beyond the arc...Pitt outrebounded Duquesne, 56-35.