PITT PANTHER BASKETBALL FUTURE AS BRIGHT AS PRESENT

January 26, 2009


While the present of Pittsburgh basketball is mighty impressive, the future is not too shabby either and a big part of it was on display yesterday in the featured game in the Lehigh Valley Hoop Group Showcase. While St. Benedict's Proves It's Worth (Morning Call) in a 79-70 overtime win over Bishop McNamara, it was Lamar Patterson and Talib Zanna putting on a show of the future of the Panthers.

Patterson was game MVP and finished with 21 points, going eight of 10 from the field and four of six from the foul line. Zanna, matched up against elite 2010 Texas-commit Tristan Thompson, matched Patterson's 21 points and added 14 rebounds, 4 steals and four thuderous jams. Zanna was nine of 16 from the field and three of five from the line.

The Gray Bees prevailed in OT, 80-70.

Joining Patterson and Zanna in Pitt's highly touted class will be an elite 2009 forward prospect in Dante Taylor of the National Christian Academy program. Taylor is quite a success story as at the age of 14 he and his mother made the tough decision for him to leave home and enter the NCA program under Trevor Brown. Taylor's Taken a Long Road from Greenburgh (The Journal News), NY to where he is today, but it was worth it to his mother.