Jaland Lowe scored a team-high 20 points, helping Pitt to a 67-64 win over North Carolina State on Wednesday in Raleigh, N.C.
Blake Hinson added 16 points for the Panthers (15-8, 6-6 Atlantic Coast Conference), who have won five of their past six games. Carlton Carrington scored 12 points for Pitt, while Federiko Federiko collected a game-high 10 rebounds.
DJ Horne led NC State (15-8, 7-5) with 25 points, followed by D.J. Burns Jr.'s 19. The Wolfpack saw their modest two-game winning streak come to an end.
After leading by eight points at halftime, Pitt took a 43-30 lead thanks to Lowe's personal 5-0 run to start the second half.
Two Carrington free throws later made it 45-32 before NC State responded with an 8-0 run, cutting the deficit to five with 16:04 left.
After Lowe's free throws with 14:44 remaining pushed the advantage to 10 for the Panthers, the Wolfpack rallied to tie the game at 56 on Casey Morsell's triple at the 7:40 mark.
With 6:30 left, Burns' layup gave NC State its first lead since the 17:39 mark of the first half.
Layups from Hinson and Ishmael Leggett helped Pitt regain the lead, but Horne's jumper equalized the score at 60 with 4:16 remaining. NC State didn't score again until the 1:44 mark, when Horne's free throws cut its deficit to one point at 63-62.
Carrington's missed layup was cleaned up by Federiko's putback with 30 seconds left, followed by Mohamed Diarra's bucket with 11 seconds to go, cutting the Pitt lead to 65-64.
NC State then fouled Lowe, who connected on two free throws with five seconds left, pushing the lead back three points.
NC State's Michael O'Connell then missed a pair of free throws with three seconds left as the Wolfpack failed to complete a comeback.
In the first half, NC State took an early 5-3 lead before Pitt's 17-6 burst, capped by Lowe's jump shot at the 12:52 mark of the first half.
Carrington's free throws at the 8:02 mark gave Pitt a 26-17 advantage. Horne then responded with a pair of triples, cutting the Wolfpack's deficit to three points.
Minutes later, Horne's fourth 3-pointer of the first half helped NC State fight back to knot the score at 30 with 3:41 left.
However, Pitt's 8-0 run gave the Panthers a 38-30 halftime lead.
--Field Level Media
Pittsburgh | NC State | |
Jaland Lowe 20 | Scoring | DJ Horne 25 |
Carlton Carrington 3 | Assists | Michael O'Connell 4 |
Federiko Federiko 11 | Rebounds | D.J. Burns Jr. 5 |
Carlton Carrington 6 | Free Throws Made | DJ Horne 4 |
Blake Hinson 1 | Steals | D.J. Burns Jr. 1 |
Federiko Federiko 2 | Blocks | Mohamed Diarra 1 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Pittsburgh | 67 | 42.3 | 5-21 | 18-20 | 9 | 33 | 4 | 3 | 10 |
NC State | 64 | 46.4 | 6-18 | 6-15 | 11 | 27 | 2 | 4 | 6 |