No. 5 Pittsburgh 79, Maryland 70
NEW YORK – When No. 5 Pittsburgh arrived in New York for the semifinals of the 2K Sports Classic the talk was all about their veteran backcourt of Ashton Gibbs and Brad Wanamaker.
As they head to the championship game, a freshman forward drew all the raves.
Talib Zanna had 14 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Panthers to a 79-70 victory over Maryland on Thursday night.
The 6-foot-9 Zanna, who averaged 8.3 points and 8.0 rebounds in his first three games, led the Panthers (4-0) on a night when Gibbs and Wanamaker barely combined to match the 19.3 average they both came in with.
“He played well this summer and continues to improve. He works very hard,” Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said of the native of Nigeria who played at Bishop McNamara H.S. in Forestville, Md., 15 miles from Maryland’s College Park campus. “He’s a guy that wasn’t ranked high, and you know what that means, but he’s good, and again, we recruit guys where they’re going to be, not where they’re at, and if you have a desire to get better and want to get better and you’re willing to pay the price, that’s what you get. He’s getting better.”
Maryland coach Gary Williams was impressed with Zanna’s performance.
“He plays with energy, that’s his job, to give his team a great offensive rebounder and do all the dirty work that most guys don’t want to do,” Williams said.
Pittsburgh will play Texas for the title on Friday night in the tournament that benefits Coaches vs. Cancer. The Longhorns beat No. 13 Illinois 90-84 in overtime later Thursday night.
The Panthers closed the first half on a 10-2 run for a 31-27 lead, then started the second half on an 11-2 run with Zanna, who had two points and five rebounds in the first half, scoring six points that gave them a 42-29 lead with 17:43 to play.
“We moved the ball a little bit better, I just thought we were fighting their pressure and not how we wanted to do it,” Dixon said. “We had some ball movement, hit a shot, and in the second half we came out and really executed some plays.
“We got away from it, we got the lead, then we forced some drives, forced some shots, and that got them back in it,” he added. “You can’t do it in stretches.”
Maryland (3-1) came right back with a 14-2 run that made it a one-point game with 13:20 to play.
No. 20 Georgetown 80, Coastal Carolina 61
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Looks like No. 20 Georgetown found another way to put away teams.
The school with the storied tradition of dominant centers — from Patrick Ewing and Alonzo Mourning to last year’s first-round draft pick, Greg Monroe — found success from the outside on Thursday, shooting its way to an 80-61 rout of Coastal Carolina in the Charleston Classic.
Jason Clark had five of the Hoyas’ season-high 14 3-pointers and finished with 22 points. Austin Freeman and Chris Wright had four 3s each as Georgetown went 14 of 30 from outside.
“We have guys across the board in that locker room who can make open shots,” Hoyas coach John Thompson III said.
They showed as the Hoyas improved to 3-0 for the fourth straight season.
“It just shows we have so many scorers,” Wright said. “Jason was shooting the ball crazy.”
Clark was 8 of 12 overall and made five of his seven attempts from long range.
Meanwhile, Freeman had 14 of his 20 points in the second half, hitting six of the seven shots he took over the final 20 minutes. Wright chipped in too with 12 points and a career-high 12 assists, surpassing his previous best of eight.
“You’re looking at a potential Final Four-type team because they’ve got four good shooters,” Coastal Carolina coach Cliff Ellis said.
Georgetown will face Wofford, last year’s Southern Conference champion, which defeated USC Upstate 79-61 on Thursday. The winner of that game plays for the championship Sunday night.
Kierre Greenwood had 16 points to lead Coastal Carolina (2-2).
George Mason 78, Charlotte 56
CHARLESTON, S.C. — Luke Hancock had a career-high 18 points to lead George Mason past Charlotte 78-56 at the Charleston Classic on Thursday night.
Hancock scored 13 of his points in the second half as the Patriots (2-0) turned a tight contest into a rout. They’ll take on North Carolina State in Friday’s semifinals, with the winner advancing to Sunday night’s title game.
George Mason let a double-digit lead dwindle to 30-24 by halftime and Charlotte (1-2) seemed to shake off a poor shooting half to get back in it.
The Patriots quickly ended the 49ers’ comeback hopes. Mike Morrison had a basket and a three-point play to push George Mason’s edge to 38-26.
Hancock took over later in the half, scoring 11 straight points to put the game out of reach for Charlotte and first-year coach Alan Major.
Jamar Briscoe led the 49ers with 20 points.
Ryan Pearson added 11 points and Cam Long 10 for the Patriots. Morrison ended with 9 points and 9 rebounds.
Hancock, a sophomore, improved on his career high of 15 points set against George Washington last December.
George Mason came into this one with an edge in experience as all five starters were back from a year ago. And the Patriots’ tight defense early kept Charlotte off balance.
Stanford 81, Virginia 60
STANFORD, Calif. — Jeremy Green scored 21 points in leading Stanford to its seventh consecutive victory over Virginia, a 81-60 decision Thursday night.
Freshman Anthony Brown added 13 points for the Cardinal (2-0), which had five players reach double figures.
Mutsaoha Farrakhan had 14 points to pace Virginia (2-1). Joe Harris added 12 and Jontel Evans 11.
Stanford’s Andrew Zimmerman and Aaron Bright each scored 12 points, and freshman Dwight Powell made all five of his shots for 10 points.
Bright hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Stanford a 37-34 halftime lead.
Green hit 8 of 13 shots three days after making 1 of 7. He played in front of former teammate Landry Fields, who was in town with the New York Knicks in advance of Friday night’s game at Golden State. Fields took Green aside before the game for a pep talk.
Green was 1-for-9 on the year before hitting three straight shots, two of them from long range. He had been held to single digits in scoring for just the sixth time in two years in Monday’s victory over San Diego.
The Cavaliers started a six-game road trip, their longest since the 1991-92 season. The games will be played in four time zones, and the team will cover 11,505 miles.
