PITTSBURGH — Winning is better than losing.
It hasn’t necessarily always been pretty, but the Pitt men’s basketball team has now won two straight games after a 71-63 victory over High Point at Petersen Events Center on Tuesday.
The Panthers haven’t played a dominant 40 minutes at any point this season, but after season-opening losses to Navy and Montana, the Panthers will take any and all marks in the win column as they continue to navigate the non-conference portion of their schedule.
Pitt took a 3-point lead into the half, and turned it into something approaching a respectable margin early in the second half, but when High Point shifted into full-court press, Pitt melted, giving up a 10-1 run to cut the gap.
High Point took the lead briefly just past the midway point of the second half, before a Khameron Davis steal-and-score gave the Panthers the lead back with 7:40 to play.
Pitt’s trouble with the press — they turned the ball over 22 times — is especially concerning, considering that the Panthers will play press-heavy West Virginia on Dec. 9.
Pitt never trailed the rest of the way, but also had troubled building a lead, despite making 19 of 22 from the free-throw line as High Point tried to foul to get back into the game.
Marcus Carr led the Panthers with a career-high 19 points and was perfect shooting 5-of-5 from the floor. Ryan Luther (13), Jonathan Milligan (12) and Jared Wilson-Frame (11) each also cracked double figures for the Panthers.
Pitt will next play Duquesne in the 2017 City Game at PPG Paints Arena on Friday.
