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No. 10 Pitt pulls away late to beat Rider

Nov 14, 2011 - 3:17 AM Pittsburgh, PA (Sports Network) - Pittsburgh was given an unexpected test Sunday by a Rider program coming off a season-opening 26-point loss to Robert Morris.

The 10th-ranked Panthers trailed by one with five minutes remaining, but held the Broncs to just two field goals the rest of the way en route to an 86-78 victory.

Tray Woodall totaled 17 points, 10 assists and seven rebounds and hit a critical three-pointer during Pitt's game-ending 14-5 run.

The Panthers (2-0), who got 24 points from Ashton Gibbs and 22 from Nasir Robinson, have won 58 straight home games against non-conference opponents.

Anthony Myles made four of Rider's (0-2) 10 three-pointers and ended with 20 points. Daniel Stewart and Novar Gadson chipped in 18 and 17 points, respectively, in defeat.

"I was proud of our effort, but we came here to win and we didn't win so we fell short of the goal," Rider head coach Tommy Dempsey said.

Pitt never trailed in the first half and led by as many as 14, 30-16, following a Gibbs bucket 8 1/2 minutes in.

The Broncs, however, answered with the next nine points, and pulled even at the half, 45-45, after Gadson and Jeff Jones buried three-pointers in the final minute of the half.

The lead changed hands six times in the second half, including when Brandon Penn drained a three-pointer from the left corner to give Rider a 73-72 edge with 5:12 to play.

A Dante Taylor layup and a Woodall three-pointer that bounced high off the rim before going through the net put the Panthers back on top.

The Broncs turned the ball over on their next possession and got blocked their next two times down. Robinson's layup on an extended possession made it a six- point game, 79-73, before Myles kept the underdogs in it with another make from behind the arc.

Gibbs countered with one of his six three-pointers, and Stewart's layup off an offensive rebound with 45 seconds left proved to be Rider's final bucket.

Pitt made 4-of-6 from the foul line down the stretch to hold on for the win.

"It wasn't our best performance, but we got through it," Gibbs said.

Game Notes

Pitt shot just 12-of-21 from the foul line and 12-of-34 from three-point range...Jones added 15 points for Rider, which played just seven players.