Men’s Basketball drops close conference contest to Pitt Greensburg

PITTSBURGH --- Carlow University men's basketball lost a close 72-65 AMCC game to Pitt Greensburg at Donahue Pavilion Wednesday.

Associate Head Coach Jacob St. George made his collegiate coaching debut, filling in for Head Coach Tim Keefer who was out sick, and junior guard Riley Comforti made his comeback to the hardwood after a late-season injury last year.

Byron Gaskins led the Celtics with a double-double performance of 15 points and 10 rebounds with four assists. Nehemiah Brazil added 13 points, two steals and an assist.

The Celtics missed a few easy shots early and the Bobcats took advantage to pull away with a seven point lead.

An and-one layup from Jimmy Giannetta brought Carlow back to within four with 9:37 left in the first half.

Later, Galen Waters hit an and-one trey as time dwindled off the shot clock, and a three-pointer from Oscar Contreras tied it up, 19-all.

Isaiah Stein got his hands on a block and hit a layup at the other end to tie the score again at 21. He followed it up with a three-pointer and a jumper to put Carlow ahead by three, it's first lead since early in the game.

The teams traded buckets the remainder of the half, with the Celtics trailing by just one point heading into halftime.

Trailing by nine almost midway through the second half, Giannetta and Galen Waters hit treys, and Clayton Cook added a layup to put Carlow within a point of tying the score.

Pitt Greensburg saw one of its largest leads of the game ahead by 11 with under five minutes to play in the second half, with the Bobcats leading almost the entire half since they went ahead 38-36 two minutes in.

The Celtics added some pressure late in the game but were down 10 with less than two minutes to go in regulation.

A foul put Comforti at the line where he sank both of his free throws to put Carlow within five, but Pitt Greensburg's Trent Rozich answered with a fast-break dunk to cement the Bobcat's 72-65 victory.

Carlow outscored Pitt Greensburg, 22-15, off the bench but the Bobcats outrebounded the Celtics, 48-40.

Carlow shot 71.4 percent (10 for 14) from the foul line on the night.

Rozich scored a game-high 37 points to lead the Bobcats. He also pulled down 18 boards for the double-double and added four assists and two steals. Ben Thomas added 10 points off the bench.

Carlow hits the road to face Hilbert (N.Y.) College and Bryant & Stratton Buffalo this weekend. The Celtics return to Donahue Pavilion in the new year.