Trevor Cooney missed a contested three in the final seconds, and Pitt was able to hold on for a 72-71 win over Syracuse in the second round of the 2016 ACC Tournament on Wednesday.
Syracuse (19-13, 9-10 ACC) had fought back from a 10-point deficit to tie the game at 68 with 1:58 to go on a fast-break dunk by Michael Gbinije.
A James Robinson steal and layup with 1:04 left gave the lead back to Pitt (21-10, 10-9 ACC), and after a Gbinije miss on the other end, Robinson hit a tough short jumper with 22 seconds left to extend the Panthers lead to four.
A Gbinije three with 13 seconds left cut the lead back to one, and Michael Young missed the front end of a one-and-one with eight seconds left, giving the Orange one last chance.
Pitt led 31-29 at the half, closing the opening 20 minutes on a 19-7 run after trailing by as many as 10.
The Panthers controlled much of the second half, leading by as many as 14 before ‘Cuse rallied.
Cameron Johnson scored 24 off the bench to lead Pitt, which shot 48.2 percent from the field (27-of-56) and was 8-of-20 (40.0 percent) from three-point range.
Syracuse got 24 from Gbinje and 11 points and 11 rebounds from DaJuan Coleman.
The Orange hit 10-of-19 (52.6 percent) from three-point range and was 47.2 percent (25-of-53) from the field overall.
Pitt advances to play #1 seed North Carolina (25-6, 14-4 ACC) at noon on Thursday.
Share
AFP
