National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Pittsburgh 73, Cal Poly SLO 56
When: 4:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 21, 2013
Where: Petersen Events Center, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Officials: # Tim Kelly, # Jerry Heater, # Ray Perone
Attendance: 9736

Pittsburgh 73, Cal Poly 56: Lamar Patterson scored a career-high 30 points on 11-of-15 shooting as the Panthers bounced back from their first loss by pulling away from the visiting Mustangs.

Durand Johnson added 12 points off the bench and Cameron Wright collected eight points, five rebounds and four steals for Pittsburgh (11-1), which improved to 8-0 at home. James Robinson chipped in nine points in the easy win.

Chris Eversley scored 16 points to lead Cal Poly (4-7). Kyle Odister scored 13 points and David Nwaba added 10 for the Mustangs, who have dropped the first two of four straight road games.

Cal Poly was only down 28-23 at the half and was within three after Nwaba’s free throws with 14:38 left. The Panthers finally began to assert themselves from there as Patterson found Wright for a layup, knocked down a 3-pointer on the next possession and converted a three-point play on the next to spread the lead to 45-34.

Back-to-back baskets from Patterson midway through the period gave Pittsburgh a 53-39 edge, and Johnson’s 3-pointer made it a 17-point gap with 7:12 to play. The Mustangs cut it back to a 12-point deficit with 4:45 remaining but never made a serious run.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Panthers totaled 11 field goals in their 44-43 loss to Cincinnati on Tuesday but hit that mark by the end of the first half and finished 27-for-58. … Pittsburgh improved to 53-3 in December games against non-conference opponents since 2002-03. … Cal Poly struggled to 5-of-11 from the free-throw line while the Panthers knocked down all 12 of their attempts.
Top Game Performances
 
Cal Poly SLO   Pittsburgh
Chris Eversley 16 Scoring Lamar Patterson 30
Ridge Shipley 5 Assists James Robinson 4
Joel Awich 6 Rebounds Talib Zanna 6
David Nwaba 2 Free Throws Made Lamar Patterson 4
Chris Eversley 2 Steals Cameron Wright 4
Joel Awich 3 Blocks James Robinson 2
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Cal Poly SLO 56 41.5 7-26 5-11 12 28 6 4 15
Pittsburgh 73 46.6 7-15 12-12 19 30 2 9 12