Pittsburgh responded quite well to its first piece of adversity this season.

Freshman Trey McGowens scored 14 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the free-throw line to lead Pitt to a 74-53 nonconference home win over Duquesne on Friday.

The Panthers (7-1) were coming off their first loss of the season, a one-point defeat at No. 14 Iowa on Tuesday, after opening the season with six straight wins.

Pitt seemed to have a bit of hangover from the Iowa loss in the first 30 minutes as Duquesne hung around. The Dukes trailed by only three at halftime, halftime, 32-29, and trailed by only six at 51-45 with 9:11 remaining in the game.

But the final nine minutes of the game belonged to Pitt.

The Panthers essentially delivered the knockout blow by going on a 15-0 run to take a 66-45 lead with 2:08 remaining, holding Duquesne scoreless for over seven minutes in the process.

It was a balanced scoring effort for Pitt, which saw four players score in double-figures and another score nine points.

Junior guard Malik Ellison scored 13, senior Jared Wilson-Frame scored 12 and freshman guard Xavier Johnson added 10 to join McGowens in the quartet of Pitt players who reached double figures.

Pitt shot 43.9 percent from the field overall (25 of 57), but overcame a cold 3-of-15 performance from 3-point range.

Pitt did go 21 of 27 from the free-throw line.

The Panthers also outrebounded Duquesne, 42-33, and forced 22 turnovers by the Dukes.

Sophomore Michael Hughes recorded a double-double for the Dukes, scoring 20 points and pulling down 10 rebounds. Hughes went 9 of 11 from the field and also blocked two shots.

Duquesne didn't fare much better from 3-point range than the Panthers. The Dukes went just 5 of 24 (20.8 percent) from deep and shot 33.3 percent overall (19 of 57).

--Field Level Media