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Texas shakes off rust before routing Appalachian State

Jan 3, 2009 - 7:48 AM AUSTIN, Texas (Ticker) -- Dexter Pittman showed that he got some work done over the holiday break.

Pittman had a career-high 21 points and 11 rebounds as seventh-ranked Texas used a big second half to rout Appalachian State, 78-43, on Friday.

Gary Johnson scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds and Damion James added 14 and 13 for the Longhorns (11-2), who needed a half to deal with playing their first game in 11 days.

Fouls also played a role in Texas' tough start, as Johnson and Connor Atchley were both whistled for two fouls in the opening half.

Pittman, who shot 8-of-12 from the field, scored the first six points after intermission as Texas went on a 12-0 run to open a 44-23 advantage with 15:25 remaining.

"I was just doing the execution coach wanted us to do," Pittman said. "That was running our plays and for me to duck in and for me to get the ball and just go up. If I didn't have it, we could always reverse it and one of the shooters could shoot it. But I was open a lot of the times."

"It took forever to realize that they had no one who could guard Dexter and when (we) finally started giving him the ball, he did OK," Texas coach Rick Barnes said. "He got a little winded and we suffered on the defensive end because of it, but overall Dexter is getting better and he's putting the time in."

The Mountaineers (5-5) did not collect their second basket of the second half until eight minutes in, falling behind 50-30. They ended up shooting 30 percent (16-of-53) from the field.

Longhorns leading scorer A.J. Abrams was also off the mark, going 3-of-9 from the field to finish with nine points. He did finish with three 3-pointers, though, the last of which gave Texas a 71-39 cushion with 4:11 to play.

Overall, the Longhorns went 44 percent (28-of-63) from the field, including 4-of-15 from the arc.

Texas dominated the boards, though, finishing with a 46-35 advantage, including 18 rebounds on the offensive end. It turned them into 19 second-chance points.

"Every time the shot went up, I just happened to find my way to the ball," Johnson said.

Kellen Brand was the lone player in double figures with 12 points for Appalachian State, which dropped to 0-3 against ranked teams since the start of last season.