No. 5 Basketball Defeats St. Francis 69-46
11/27/2002 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
No. 5 Basketball Defeats St. Francis 69-46
11/27/2002
PITTSBURGH? Brandin Knight scored 10 points, dished out nine assists and added eight rebounds in leading No. 5 Pittsburgh to a 69-46 victory over St. Francis (Pa.) Wednesday before 8,686 at the brand new Petersen Events Center. The victory improves Pittsburgh to 2-0 on the season and drops St. Francis to 0-2.
Pittsburgh has now won 19 consecutive non-conference home contests, eight straight home games and 13 of its last 15 games and 16 of its last 19.
Knight led four Panthers in double digits with his 10-point, nine-assist, eight rebound effort. He led the Panthers in both assists and rebounds. Guard Carl Krauser came off the bench to score 13 points and add five rebounds, guard Julius Page scored 11 points and guard Jaron Brown finished with 10 points.
Pittsburgh built an 18-point first half lead, then held the visiting Red Flash to 17 first half points in constructing a 33-17 halftime lead. St. Francis shot just 32.7 percent from the field (17-52).
Pittsburgh?s balanced attack was fueled by 21 assists and 40 points in the paint. The 46 points scored by St. Francis was the lowest an opponent scored on Pittsburgh since the Panthers held Savannah State to 35 points on December 1, 2001 (87-35 win).
With the win, Pittsburgh improved its all-time record against St. Francis to 26-0. Pittsburgh is now 52-0 all-time against Northeast Conference opponents.
St. Francis? Eric Wills led all scorers with 17 points while Darshan Luckey finished with 14.
Pittsburgh is next in action Saturday when it hosts Arkansas-Pine Bluff for a 7:30 p.m. matchup.
GAME NOTES
*Pittsburgh won its eighth straight home game and registered its ninth consecutive home sellout.
*Pittsburgh is now a perfect 26-0 all-time against St. Francis including an 18-0 record at home.
*Pittsburgh is 52-0 all-time against Northeast Conference opponents.
*Brandin Knight scored 10 points tonight. Combining his brother Brevin and Brandin?s career, the Knights have scored a combined 2,807 total points. With his 10 points tonight, the Knights surpassed Bobby and Danny Hurley on the NCAA?s all-time top brother scoring combinations list.
*Brandin Knight registered four steals tonight. He now has 233 steals for his career and needs just three steals to surpass Vonteego Cummings for second place on Pitt?s all-time career steals list (235). Jerry McCullough (1991-96) holds the record at 257.
*The Panthers have now won 19 consecutive regular season non-conference home games dating back to a Dec. 23, 1999 loss to Virginia Commonwealth (66-60).
*The attendance of 8,686 would have set Pittsburgh?s all-time attendance record last season.
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