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Pitt tops Seton Hall, runs win streak to 7

Jan 16, 2011 - 4:40 AM Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Gary McGhee scored 13 points with 10 rebounds, leading No. 5 Pittsburgh to a 74-53 win over Seton Hall.

Talib Zanna added 10 points for the Panthers (17-1, 5-0 Big East) extended their winning streak to seven games since their only loss to Tennessee last month.

Herb Pope scored 15 points to lead Seton Hall (8-10, 2-4), but the Pirates suffered their fourth loss in five games and fell to 1-10 in their last 11 trips to Pittsburgh.

The Panthers, meanwhile, ran their on-campus winning streak to 19 games, improving to 12-0 this season. They are 5-0 in Big East play for only the fourth time in school history.

Pitt will try for its first-ever 6-0 start in Big East play against Syracuse on Monday.

"We did a lot of good things. I think everyone knows we have a pretty balanced team and have a lot of guys available for us," said Panthers head coach Jamie Dixon. "We got a lot of guys [involved]. It's a good win against a team that's played a lot of teams close."

Seton Hall was coming off Wednesday's 78-67 victory over DePaul -- a bounce- back win that came on the heels of consecutive losses to Cincinnati, Louisville and Syracuse.

But the Pirates never led in this one after holding a 7-6 edge with 16:02 remaining in the first half.

"In my opinion, this is one of the best teams in the country," Seton Hall head coach Kevin Willard said of Pittsburgh, where played his last three years as a college guard.

The Panthers followed Seton Hall's early lead with a 19-5 run, capped by McGhee's tip-in to make it 25-12 with five minutes left in the half.

The Panthers built a 33-18 lead at halftime and never let Seton Hall get closer than 13 the rest of the way. Pitt's largest lead was 25 on a J.J. Moore three-pointer that made it 74-49 in the final minutes.

Pitt shot just 42.7 percent for the game while holding Seton Hall to 41.2 percent shooting.

The difference came elsewhere: The Panthers out-rebounded the Pirates 51-27 and took 21 more shots.

"I think we did a good job of crashing the offensive glass and getting extra shots," said McGhee. "We tried to limit them [offensively] so we could get as many shots and extra attempts."

Game Notes

Jordan Theodore scored 11 points for Seton Hall and Jeff Robinson had 10...Pitt leads the all-time series 31-20...The Panthers are 61-10 all-time against Big East opponents at the Petersen Events Center.