Senior Big East Preseason Player of the Year Aaron Gray turned in a double-double effort with 24 points and 14 rebounds to lead No. 4 Pittsburgh to a 78-52 victory over Northeastern on the opening night of the First Commonwealth Colonial Athletic Association Basketball Classic.
The 7'0 center converted 11-of-16 field goal attempts in just 25 minutes of play to help the Panthers stake a 38-8 scoring advantage in the paint and control the boards by a 44-25 margin. Overall, Pittsburgh (3-0) connected on 31-of-61 shots (51.6 percent), while limiting the Huskies (0-2) to a 20-for-57 (35.7 percent) evening, including just 6-of-26 (23.1 percent) from 3-point range.
The Panthers jumped out to a 15-2 lead at the 12:45 mark in the first half behind eight points from Gray, as the Huskies made just one of their first 10 field goal attempts. But Northeastern crawled back, cutting the deficit to just five points at 22-17 with 7:27 in the half on a 3-point field goal from sophomore Eugene Spates. From that point, Pittsburgh rattled off a 13-3 run to push the margin back to 35-20 with 2:11 remaining.
The second half opened with a 16-4 Panther run which pushed the margin to 26 points with 15:21 remaining. The teams played even the rest of the way, but Northeastern would draw no closer than 21 points after Spates drained his third 3-pointer of the evening at 8:19 to close the game to 61-43.
Senior Antonio Graves turned in a 15-point effort, connecting on 6-of-10 from the floor for Pittsburgh, while junior Keith Benjamin added 11 points on a 4-of-8 shooting effort.
Spates led all Northeastern scorers with a career-high 19 points on 7-of-11 shooting and seven rebounds, while senior Bennet Davis added 12 points with five boards and a pair of blocks. Senior Adrian Martinez scored six and added five assists on the evening.
The Huskies continue with non-conference action as they challenge Oakland on the second day of the CAA Basketball Classic in Pittsburgh, beginning at 2 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Northeastern vs PITT
11/17/06 5:00 PM at Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, PA
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VISITORS: Northeastern (0-2)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 Davis, Bennet....... f 4-13 2-4 2-2 2 3 5 0 12 2 1 2 0 33
23 Janning, Matt....... f 2-7 0-4 0-0 0 3 3 2 4 3 4 0 0 30
32 Adako, Manny........ c 3-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 2 6 2 2 1 0 19
11 Martinez, Adrian.... g 2-10 0-7 2-3 0 0 0 3 6 5 2 0 0 28
22 Kelly, Bobby........ g 2-7 1-3 0-0 0 1 1 1 5 0 2 0 0 36
01 Popoola, Dipo....... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
20 Smith, Matt......... 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
24 Spates, Eugene...... 7-11 3-7 2-2 3 4 7 3 19 0 1 0 1 26
25 Bataille, Baptiste.. 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 0 4
50 Washington, Mark.... 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 2 0 1 0 22
TEAM................ 5 5
Totals.............. 20-57 6-26 6-7 5 20 25 12 52 14 13 4 1 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-28 35.7% 2nd Half: 10-29 34.5% Game: 35.1% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 4-13 30.8% 2nd Half: 2-13 15.4% Game: 23.1% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 6-7 85.7% Game: 85.7% 0
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HOME TEAM: PITT (3-0)
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
14 KENDALL, Levon...... f 1-4 0-1 2-2 1 3 4 1 4 5 3 1 0 24
31 COOK, Mike.......... f 3-5 0-0 2-2 1 3 4 2 8 2 2 0 0 23
33 GRAY, Aaron......... c 11-16 0-0 2-4 5 9 14 1 24 0 2 0 0 25
02 FIELDS, Levance..... g 2-7 1-3 0-0 0 5 5 2 5 5 1 0 0 20
22 GRAVES, Antonio..... g 6-10 3-4 0-0 0 2 2 0 15 3 0 0 1 22
01 BENJAMIN, Keith..... 4-8 1-2 2-2 1 2 3 0 11 0 0 0 3 14
04 RAMON, Ronald....... 0-1 0-1 3-4 0 2 2 4 3 3 2 1 0 24
05 BIGGS, Tyrell....... 1-3 0-1 0-0 0 2 2 1 2 1 0 0 0 14
21 HUDSON, Doyle....... 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 2 1 2 0 0 0 0 9
23 YOUNG, Sam.......... 2-5 0-0 0-0 1 4 5 0 4 3 1 0 1 23
35 RIZK, Geoff......... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1
40 POLEN, Maurice...... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 31-61 5-12 11-14 11 33 44 12 78 22 12 2 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 16-31 51.6% 2nd Half: 15-30 50.0% Game: 50.8% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 2-4 50.0% 2nd Half: 3-8 37.5% Game: 41.7% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 4-6 66.7% 2nd Half: 7-8 87.5% Game: 78.6% 2
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Officials: Mike Kitts (R), Brian O'Connell, Wally Rutecki
Technical fouls: Northeastern-None. PITT-None.
Attendance: 8691
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Northeastern.................. 24 28 - 52
PITT.......................... 38 40 - 78
ID-485074
# Second Game of the Colonial Athletic Association Basketball CLassic
