PITTSBURGH (AP) – For the second time in a week, La Salle had a Big East team on the ropes. And for the second time in a week, it couldn’t put the game away.
The Explorers weathered a nine-point second-half run from No. 17 Pittsburgh that erased their only lead of the game. They bounced back for several late opportunities to tie or regain the lead, but ultimately fell 73-69 on Tuesday night.
The loss brought back bad memories of La Salle’s overtime loss at crosstown rival Villanova on Nov. 15. There, the Explorers held a five-point lead with 1:26 to go in regulation before letting the Wildcats come back.
“We don’t want to have this become a broken record,” La Salle coach John Giannini said. “Obviously, we’re going to get better. I think our kids can learn from these sorts of things and I think we can have a good team. You just hate to blow special opportunities. They don’t come around that often.”
La Salle had the Panthers (3-1) in trouble after Pitt’s 21st turnover let the Explorers get out on the break trailing by three points with 10 seconds to go.
Rather than shoot a 3-pointer, La Salle’s Sam Mills went in for a layup. But the 5-foot-11 Woodall swatted it out of danger and Pitt held on.
Earl Pettis led La Salle (2-2) with 22 points but the Explorers shot just 4 of 16 on 3-pointers and were dominated on the glass, getting outrebounded 42-24.
Despite another close game versus a major conference team, Pettis was disappointed in letting it slip away.
“There are no moral victories,” he said. “We’re a good team. We can pretty much go out there and beat any team we play as long as we get stops. We were looking for the win.”
Nasir Robinson scored 17 points and Pittsburgh clamped down on defense in the final minutes. Ashton Gibbs added 14 points for the Panthers while Travon Woodall had 12 points, 10 assists and a pivotal block in the waning seconds.
The Panthers have struggled while searching for an identity this season, particularly on defense. Rider put up 45 points in the first half before fading late in an 86-78 Pitt victory.
Long Beach State matched that total last Wednesday and kept right on going in an 86-76 upset, snapping Pitt’s 58-game nonconference home winning streak.
Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon promised to shore things up during a five-day layoff, and while the Panthers were back to their usual selves, the Explorers were hardly pushovers. Pitt led by 10 points early but couldn’t shake free as LaSalle clamped down on Gibbs, who missed his first five shots from the floor.
Devon White raced the length of the floor for a layup just before the halftime buzzer to trim Pitt’s advantage to 28-26 at the break, threatening to give the Panthers their first nonconference losing streak at the Petersen Events Center since it opened nearly a decade ago.
It nearly happened.
Every time Pitt appeared ready to take control, La Salle would bounce back. A 9-0 burst by the Panthers gave them a 61-53 lead with 4:21 to go, but La Salle kept on coming behind Pettis and some sloppy Pitt ballhandling.
Pettis hit a layup with 1:25 to play to get the Explorers back to 68-66. Gibbs hit two free throws and Woodall drew a charge – the second crucial offensive foul he drew in the second half – and Pitt appeared to be safe.
“We were in position to have a chance and we didn’t do certain things,” Giannini said. “There are a couple of plays that will stick with me where I feel we gave them baskets without them working as hard as we wanted them to.”
Yet as Dixon and his roster stuffed with 10 underclassmen are learning, no lead is secure.
“We shouldn’t have been in that position,” Dixon said. “Those are things you learn as you go forward.”
Pettis drilled a 3-pointer to cut Pitt’s lead to 72-69 with 45 seconds left. Rather than foul, the Explorers played defense and it paid off when the Panthers bobbled the ball into the hands of Mills, who eschewed the 3-pointer and went to the rim.
Woodall extended every last inch of his frame to get the block. Dante Taylor snagged the rebound, drew the foul and the Panthers held on.
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