Dec. 15, 2001

Box Score

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Despite 21 points by Rhode Island's Lazare Adingono and poor free-throw shooting by Pittsburgh late in the game, the Panthers hung on to beat Rhode Island 58-51 on Saturday.

Rhode Island (3-6) trailed by just one point, 42-41, with 7:30 left to play but was never able to overtake the Panthers. The Rams have lost five consecutive games.

Pitt (9-1) crept to a 52-44 lead with 2:45 remaining thanks to a layup off a spin move by Brandin Knight, a layup by Jaron Brown and a jumper from the left side by reserve Mark McCarroll.

Knight paced Pittsburgh with 14 points and Brown added 12. Both had 10 rebounds.

Knight made one of two free throws with 1:17 left to give Pittsburgh a 55-48 lead but Dustin Hellenga connected on a 3-pointer with 31 seconds to cut the lead to four.

Knight missed the front end of a one-and-one, but wound up with the ball after teammates Ontario Lett and McCarroll batted around the ball.

Julius Page was fouled by Rhode Island with 19 seconds left and made one of two but again the Panthers grabbed the rebound on the miss with Brown getting the ball. Knight missed two free throws with 16 seconds left but the Rams missed on a 3-pointer at the other end.

Neither team shot well. Pittsburgh hit 37.7 percent (23 of 61) of its shots, while Rhode Island shot just 29.6 percent (16 of 54) from the field.