At halftime in the first round of the Big East Tournament, Pitt leads St. John’s by a score of 33-28.
Ashton Gibbs leads the Panthers in scoring, thanks to hitting three of his seven shots from behind the three-point line. (That includes Pitt’s first two baskets of the game.) Lamar Patterson and John Johnson each have five points apiece.
Moe Harkless has had an excellent first half to lead the Red Storm, going 5-of-7 with 13 points and grabbing four rebounds. Harkless got hot with about eight minutes left in the half, at one point scoring eight of 10 St. John’s points and hitting a layup with five minutes left in the half that put the Panthers down six. Gibbs then hit a three and a jumper to cut the lead to one, however, and the Panthers controlled the rest of the half.
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The Panthers shot 15 three-pointers so far, and are leading largely because they’ve hit five of them. They’re vulnerable if they keep doing this and they run into a cold streak in the second half. Of course, given how badly they’ve played against the Big East this year, they have little left to lose.
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