Monday, February 25, 2013

Woodall Helps Pitt Past St. John's 63-47



          Brooklyn native and former St. Anthony's (NJ) star Trayvon Woodall scored 25 points to help Pittsburgh win its final Big East regular season game at Madison Square Garden 63-47 Sunday afternoon.
          Woodall, was nearly flawless as he helped Pittsburgh maintain a small advantage against a St. John's team that played well in the first 20 minutes.  They ;played Pitt even under the basket, rebounding effectively and matching them point for point in the paint (24 points each for the game) Jakarr Sampson finished with a team high 14 points for the Johnnies while they got more paint production from Phil Greene, who finished with 11 points as he took the ball in against the Panthers' aggressive front line.
          Their good work in the first half meant that they trailed by just 30-27 at the half despite leading scorer D'angelo Harrison's shooting struggles. They took the lead briefly twice in the second half the last time at 33-32 on two Sir ^Dominick Pointer free throws with 17:25 left. Woodall  responded moments later with a pull up jumper and Pitt quickly  extended the lead to 7 with baskets from another New Yorker J.J. Moore, and Lamar Patterson. Pittsburgh lead by as many as 7 points when Sampson, Sir*Dominic Pointer Pointer and Chris Obekpa  sparked a rally that trimmed the 42-30 with 12:11 left. Following two made free throws from Obekpa a rally that began when Woodall made a steal and fed Patterson for a basket, and ended when Woodall connected on a long three pointer that gave Pitt a double digit margin, the game was pretty much decided.  Steve Lavin said that the Panthers' trademark defense was the key to the rally but admitted his team  ".... could've been mare patient and had better shot selection."
          With the win Pittsburgh broke both a two game losing streak and a tie with St. John's for 7th place in the league. They also sent St. John's to their third straight loss.

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