STEUBENVILLE, Ohio—The Allegheny Mountain Collegiate Conference preseason player of the year David Palmer scored 19 points and ripped down 17 rebounds to help his University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg Bobcats to an 86-52 victory over the Franciscan University of Steubenville Barons Wednesday night.

"We were really out of sorts defensively tonight," Franciscan head coach John Lamanna said. "We struggled in the first half offensively with a lot of missed shots at the basket."

The Barons shot just 25 percent from the field in the first half and 37 percent in the game compared to a 75 percent shooting night from their opponent.

"I was pleased with the fact that we were able to fight back in the second half," Lamanna noted. "We were able to go on a little run, but unfortunately we weren't able to sustain it."

Three straight three-point field goals by John Trabbic cut the Greensburg lead to 16 in the second half, but that is as close as the Barons came.

To go along with Trabbic's 14 points, all of which came in the second half, Nolan Albrecht led Franciscan in scoring with 16. He added a team-high six rebounds on the night.

"We look forward to having a better defensive performance in the coming days," Lamanna said.

Franciscan travels to Hilbert College on Saturday for a 2 p.m. tip-off.