National Basketball Association
Wake Forest 63, Pittsburgh 59
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, February 22, 2017
Where: Lawrence Joel Veterans Memorial Coliseum, Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Officials:
# Lee Cassell, # William Covington Jr., # Keith Kimble
Attendance:
9827
By The Sports Xchange
WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. -- John Collins scored in the lane on an offensive rebound with 17 seconds to play as Wake Forest completed a big comeback for a 63-59 victory against visiting Pittsburgh on Wednesday night at Lawrence Joel Coliseum.
Michael Young missed a potential go-ahead 3-pointer for Pittsburgh, and after an offensive rebound, the Panthers committed a turnover allowing Wake Forest to hold on after Brandon Childress made two free throws.
Collins finished with 22 points for Wake Forest, which overcame a 19-point deficit Collins has scored 20 or more points in 11 consecutive games.
Bryant Crawford added 10 points for Wake Forest (16-12, 7-9), which avoided its first three-game losing streak of the season. The outcome bolstered the Demon Deacons' postseason hopes as they have lost to only one team that hasn't been nationally ranked at some point in the season.
Wake Forest has seven league wins for the first time in seven years.
Young scored 24 points and Jamel Artis had 11 points for Pittsburgh (15-13, 4-11), which had won three of its previous four games.
Young entered the game as the ACC's scoring leader at 20.2 points per game, but he went to the bench with his fourth foul with 14:02 remaining and the Panthers holding a 10-point lead.
Pittsburgh led by as much as 36-17, but Wake Forest scored the final seven points of the first half. That late surge was aided by a Brandon Childress 3-point basket after the Demon Deacons missed their first five long-range attempts.
Young scored 17 of Pittsburgh's first 32 points.
Wake Forest was within 47-43 with slightly less than nine minutes to play. An Austin Arians 3-pointer pulled the Demon Deacons to within 57-56 with three minutes left. Childress' foul shot tied it at the 2:37 mark and Collins' lay-in gave Wake Forest the lead with 1:34 to play.
Sheldon Jeter's two free throws tied the game for Pittsburgh with 49 seconds left.
Pittsburgh went through a second-half stretch missing 16 of 17 shots from the field.
Top Game Performances
Pittsburgh |
|
Wake Forest |
Michael Young 24 |
Scoring |
John Collins 22 |
Cameron Johnson 4 |
Assists |
Bryant Crawford 5 |
Sheldon Jeter 7 |
Rebounds |
John Collins 13 |
Michael Young 8 |
Free Throws Made |
Konstantinos Mitoglou 5 |
Cameron Johnson 3 |
Steals |
Bryant Crawford 5 |
Sheldon Jeter 1 |
Blocks |
Austin Arians 1 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Pittsburgh
|
59 |
30.2 |
7-23 |
20-28 |
11 |
32 |
3 |
4 |
12 |
Wake Forest
|
63 |
37.9 |
3-15 |
16-25 |
14 |
45 |
3 |
9 |
12 |