PITTSBURGH , January 7, 2008 – The Pittsburgh Xplosion earned a 133-101 victory over an undermanned Great Falls team tonight at Mellon Arena. After falling behind by 11 less than five minutes in, Great Falls rallied to cut the deficit to two at 29-27 at the end of the first quarter.

“Anytime you put athletes out there and they're competing, you have to expect that you'll get their best,” Xplosion head coach Carlos Knox said.

Great Falls stayed close through the early minutes of the second quarter, trailing by three after a Bryant bucket at the 6:54 mark. From that point, however, Pittsburgh went on a 23-9 run to end the first half and take a 64-47 lead into the break.

Pittsburgh continued to pull away throughout the second half, building its lead to as many as 34 on a Tyrone Anderson lay-in with 9:40 to play in the game. Great Falls did have a chance to take the fourth quarter point, but Kevin Menifee missed a shot at the buzzer. Pittsburgh took all seven quarter points from the Explorers.

In his first home game with the Xplosion, Anderson led Pittsburgh with 27 points on 13-of-15 shooting. John DeGroat scored 25 points and added 12 rebounds. Bryant led Great Falls with 29.