NEW YORK (Pitt Athletics)- Michael Young sounded like a grizzled veteran and he made sure his teammates listened.
(Photo courtesy of Pitt Athletics)
“At halftime it was just a look yourself in the mirror type of moment,” he said of Pittsburgh’s 11-point halftime deficit that would reach 15 points. ” We lost the first game due to (SMU) being tougher than us down the stretch. We came in the second half and it was now or never.”
Now won out.
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Young scored a career-high 30 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead Pittsburgh to a 78-75 victory over Marquette on Friday in the third-place game of the 2K Classic Benefiting Wounded Warrior Project.
Young, a senior forward whose previous career-high was 27 points as a sophomore against Chaminade, brought the Panthers (3-1) back from that 15-point deficit and he did it almost by himself.
With Marquette (2-2) leading 59-49 with 13:51 to play, the 6-foot-9 Young scored the game’s next 10 points, almost all on inside baskets.
“Back up against the wall, you just got to fight,” Young said. “Me being a senior, Jamel being a senior, just going into the game I told him it’s now or never. After the second half we can’t get this game back. We can’t get no more games back. Every game our senior year matters. Just to give it my all and just really be aggressive and kind of lead my team.”
First-year Pitt coach Kevin Stallings said of Young: “He can carry us and he does.”
From the 59-all tie with 10:36 to play there would be four lead changes and three ties. Pitt took the lead for good on a free throw by Jamel Artis with 1:03 left and he added two more free throws with 5.6 seconds left for the final margin.
“It was awesome,” Artis said of Young’s run. “Me and him, we got to be the load every night, bring the energy offensively and defensively. To watch him go out there make his 10-0 run was awesome for us because we needed it at the time.”
Andrew Rowsey’s 3-pointer at the buzzer bounced off the rim.
Artis finished with 21 points and seven rebounds for the Panthers while Chris Jonesadded 13 points.
Rowsey, who came into the game with a total of two points on the season, had 20 for the Golden Eagles, while Duane Wilson and Sam Hauser had 11 each.
The Golden Eagles closed the first half on a 14-6 run to take a 44-33 lead and then scored the first four points of the second half for the game’s biggest lead.. .
“You can’t have 50-point halves scored against you and win in college basketball,” Marquette coach Steve Wojciechowski said. “You never have been able to and you never will be able to. We had two halves of basketball, one in each game where we gave up essentially 50 points. Give credit to the team we played but our defense has to improve.”
BIG PICTURE
Pittsburgh: The Panthers bounced back from a 76-67 loss to SMU in the opening round. … Stallings has seemed to fit in well with a veteran team recruited by Jamie Dixon. …The Panthers averaged 86.3 points over their first three games and with Young averaging 22 and Artis 19, the two accounted for 48 percent of the team’s points.
Marquette: The Golden Eagles were blown out 79-61 by Michigan in the opening round. … Marquette is having a hard time filling the void in the middle after freshman Henry Ellenson left after his freshman year for the NBA.
OLD FOES
Pittsburgh and Marquette were members of the Big East together for eight seasons until the Panthers left for the Atlantic Coast Conference. The all-time series is tied 9-9 as Marquette had a three-game winning streak against the Panthers snapped.
ROUSING ROWSEY
Rowsey came into the game having made 1 of 7 from the field, including missing five 3-point attempts in the first three games. He was 5 for 12 from the field Friday and e was 3 of 7 from behind the arc.
“Rowsey was kind of the guy who was creating a lot of offense so we wanted the ball in his hands at the end of the game,” Wojciechowski said. “We got the ball to the rim. We got a wide open shot. We just didn’t make it.”
UP NEXT
Pittsburgh: The Panthers head home for games with Yale and Morehead State before facing Maryland in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.
Marquette: The Warriors are home for three games against IUPUI, Houston Baptist and Western Carolina.
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