PITTSBURGH (93.7 The Fan) – Pitt men’s basketball rebounded from an early deficit and won its opener against Youngstown State by rebounding, final 74-59 Monday night.
The Panthers finished with a 46-24 edge on the boards and the physicality led to a 27-9 free throw attempt advantage. Size played a factor with the Panthers Cam Corhen at 6’10”, 235 pounds, Papa Amadou Kante 6’10”, 235 pounds and Roman Siulepa at 6’6”, 220 pounds.
“I thought the attention that we tried to give to it in practice and our guys understanding that is something that has not been a strength, but want it to be a strength and understanding we need to work at it,” said Pitt head coach Jeff Capel. “Them taking the work serious and understanding that.”
Corhen finished with 23 points and 12 rebounds and Kante had a career-high 10 rebounds. Siulepa and guard Damarco Minor each had six rebounds.
“I think we did a great job, especially Papa. He gave us 21 great minutes, 10 rebounds. He takes a lot of pressure. If he’s rebounding, two people have to go to him and it leaves me open for boards. I feel like a lot of that was Papa.”
Sophomores Brandin Cummins finished with 18 points including eight free throws and Iowa State transfer Nojus Indrusaitis had 13 points.
“I’m proud of our guys because I thought overall it was a good defensive performance, especially the last 30 minutes of the game,” Capel said. “We settled into the game and it got us going a little bit offensively. Really pleased with the victory, obviously we have work to do. Excited about the work.”
“The game was a little too close to our liking, but we stayed calm,” Cummings said. “We stayed poised. Just a little adversity, it ain’t anything we aren’t used to.”
Turnovers
If there is an area where Pitt would like to improve, it would be turnovers. After averaging only 10 a game last season, the Panthers committed 18.
“We were sloppy,” Capel said. “We weren’t strong with the basketball. We were late at times with some decisions. I think it really comes down to we weren’t strong. They play really hard and are physical. I thought we didn’t play with the necessary strength and then at the end we made some stupid and tired turnovers.”
Local honor
A star for years at California University of Pennsylvania, Steel Valley HS graduate and Youngstown State guard Cam Polak scored nine points with five rebounds and a steal in 21 minutes in his hometown in his Division I debut.
“It was cool,” Polak said. “It really was. There are still a lot of people here waiting for me. It was a good experience especially coming from Division II to this. It was really cool.”
Polak said when he was a kid he worked out with Pitt legend Ashton Gibbs.
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