Seton Hill men lead wire-to-wire to defeat Pitt-Greensburg in matchup of unbeatens

Seton Hill has been hatching plans to change the way it defends.

The personnel the talented Griffins have allows them to guard straight up. How they shield against opposing teams could dictate how far they go this college basketball season.

“We’re trying to play more man-to-man,” Griffins coach Ben Wilkins said. “Every time we play, it’s a work in progress. We have guys who have been playing zone for three years. That’s all they know.”

The Griffins continued to work on their new defensive approach and saw their offense remain in high gear as six players scored in double figures in a 99-77 victory over visiting Pitt-Greensburg on Tuesday afternoon at McKenna Center.

Seton Hill (5-0) led wire-to-wire as Rashaad Williams and Dimitrios Sklavenitis each scored 18 points, Edir Ortiz added 16 points and 15 rebounds and Kedrick Curtis scored 14 and grabbed 10 rebounds.

Brandon Coury (12) and Gabe Gillespie (10) also scored in double digits in Greensburg’s unofficial “City Game.”

Gillespie also had seven rebounds in his first action of the season since returning from a shoulder injury.

Pitt-Greensburg (5-0), a promising NCAA Division III team that will not by rule be charged a loss against the Division II Griffins, cut a 17-point deficit to six with 13 minutes, 15 seconds to play in the second half before the Griffins, who are averaging 88.8 points, pulled away down the stretch.

Seton Hill scored 27 points off 14 UPG turnovers and produced 58 points in the paint.

“We played with more energy in the second half,” said Williams, a freshman guard who left shortly after the game to catch a flight home to Norfolk, Va., to see his family for Thanksgiving. “We trusted each other and played a more complete game. Connectivity is our superpower.”

UPG continually trimmed the margin to single digits but could not get the lead against the responsive Griffins.

“Ben does a great job; he’s an incredible coach,” UPG coach Chris Klimchock said. “They are really good offensively; and they’re tough to guard with their high-scoring guards and versatile bigs. I thought we settled for some things early.”

Trent Rozich had a game-high 19 points and grabbed nine rebounds for the Bobcats, who also got 16 points — and a spark — from sixth man Joziah Wyatt-Taylor.

Michael Bigley chipped in 10 points for UPG, which hit 10 3-pointers.

Seton Hill opened with a 10-0 run and led 24-7 before 6-foot-4 bruiser Wyatt-Taylor scored seven straight points, including a 3, to close the gap to 35-25.

Bigley’s jumper got UPG within 39-31, but Curtis finished a three-point play as the Griffins closed the first half on a 9-2 run to take a 46-33 into the break.

After Williams’ 3 stretched the Griffins’ lead to 12, Jahmir Collins made a 3 and Wyatt-Taylor put back a rebound to make it 61-55.

Williams also had eight rebounds and four assists.

“Rashaad’s poise was terrific,” Wilkins said. “He has a chance to be special.”

Wyatt Taylor closed it to 67-60 with 11:40 to play, but the Griffins started to play downhill, with Williams, Coury, Curtis and Sklavenitis all scoring on drives to push it to 75-62.

UPG, which averages 85.4 points, could only get within 10 the rest of the way. The 6-6 Gillespie made a layup off a feed from Coury, a Burrell alum who started the previous game, then Ortiz made a putback and Noah Wright (Penn-Trafford) hit a 3 as the Griffins went ahead by 23.

“Coach Klimchock has a very good team. They are going to win a lot of games. We need to keep sharing the basketball. If we do that, it can be anybody’s night. We scored 99, and we didn’t make a layup or a free throw,” said Wilkins, whose team shot 19 of 31 on free throws.

“We’re 18-2 when we take more shots than the other team. Tonight, we had 81 shots and they had 66.”

UPG played well in another exhibition against a higher-level program. It played Robert Morris close early in an 81-57 loss that, again, didn’t count on its record, but revealed character.

“All we can ask for is 100 percent effort from our guys,” Klimchock said. “These games prepare us for (AMCC) conference play. We can compete against anybody. We’re not going to be afraid, and we’ll live by that with our culture.”