PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Pitt (2-0) stretched an eight-point halftime lead with a big second half and defeated visiting Binghamton men's basketball (0-2) 89-60 Friday night at the Petersen Events Center.

Coming off a 24-win season that included two NCAA tournament wins and a third-place ACC finish, Pitt used an 8-0 run to open the second half. The Panthers hit 6-of-8 to start and used their size advantage to pull away with a larger, stifling 28-9 opening run. Pitt shot above 60 percent for most of the half as the lead swelled.  

Freshman Evan Ashe led the Bearcats with 15 points on 6-of-9 shooting. He hit 3-of-5 three-pointers. Graduate guard Symir Torrence added 10 points, five assists and five rebounds. Senior forward Nehemiah Benson chipped in eight points and a team-high seven boards.

"Pitt was aggressive and did a really good job of getting offensive rebounds and scoring points in the paint," associate head coach Brian Johnson said. "We have to do a better job in our assist-to-turnover ratio. We had a few of our best players in foul trouble and that hurt us as well but it was great to see us come out and play hard and compete for the entire game. It also was good for our underclassmen to be in this environment and see what it takes."

The Bearcats returning scoring leader Armon Harried was saddled with foul trouble from the opening minutes of the game and played just 14 minutes. Binghamton was whistled for 20 fouls.

Despite a rash of fouls called early (5 in first 6:23), BU battled to stay within striking distance in the first half. Torrence scored Binghamton's first eight points and after a jumper from Benson, BU trailed 12-10 with 11:34 left. Freshman forward Gavin Walsh drilled a pair of threes in a 1-minute span (his first collegiate points) and classmate Ashe also used a 3-ball to score his first collegiate points late in the period.

Pitt, however, used a 13-2 run spanning three minutes to extend its lead to 34-20 with 4:54 left. Buckets from Pittsburgh native and graduate guard Dan Petcash and sophomore Chris Walker helped the Bearcats bring it back to single digits at half, down 40-32. The Bearcats outshot the Panthers in the first period but the wide foul discrepancy and rebound advantage tilted the edge in favor of the hosts.
  
Binghamton next hosts Keystone College in the team's home opener Sunday night. Tip-off is at 6:07 p.m. at the Events Center.