The Pitt men’s basketball team played its first of three exhibition games Thursday afternoon in Rome’s Fonte Roma Eur gym, facing the Netherlands National B Team and handing the Oranje a 60-55 defeat.
As the scoreline suggests, the game was not a wire-to-wire success but a close affair that was decided in the fourth quarter. In fact, after a promising start, Pitt found itself down 24-23 at the half, and as usual, Panthers point guard Xavier Johnson led all scorers with nine points.
However, the Panthers showed some fight and some promise by reclaiming the lead in the fourth quarter.