Pitt
13-7,4-5ACC
Syracuse
13-7,6-3ACC
Pitt's Comeback Falls Short at Syracuse
1/25/2020 2:27:00 PM | Men's Basketball
AP Sports Writer
SYRACUSE, N.Y. - After trailing by 16 points with 9:20 to play, Pitt brought it within three twice, the latest coming with 33 seconds left before ultimately falling short to Syracuse on the road Saturday afternoon.
Syracuse (13-7, 6-3 ACC) has won five straight, while Pitt falls to (13-7, 4-5) after coming off home wins over North Carolina and Boston College.
Buddy Boeheim scored 21 points and Marek Dolezaj added 17 for the Orange. Elijah Hughes, the ACC's leading scorer, had just 10 points to match his season low, all coming in the second half. Quincy Guerrier had 10 points and eight rebounds and Dolezaj had seven boards.
Justin Champagnie led Pitt with 14 points and Terrell Brown had 11. Leading scorer Trey McGowens had seven points.
Pitt fell behind early by double digits and never closed within striking distance until late. After Guerrier scored five straight points for the Orange for a 49-35 lead midway through the second half, Ryan Murphy hit a 3, his first after five misses from long range, McGowens hit another 3, and a layup by Champagnie closed the gap to 56-47 with 6:02 left as the Panthers outscored Syracuse 14-3 in a five-minute surge.
A 3-pointer from the top of the key by Murphy and a foul-line jumper by Brown narrowed the gap to 59-56 with 2:43 left, but Hughes converted a drive through the lane and Dolezaj put back a miss by Hughes with 1:43 to go to keep the Panthers at bay.
Pitt missed 10 of its first 11 shots as the Syracuse defense swarmed, blocking five shots, three by Hughes. The Orange, who converted three three-point plays in the first half, used a 15-2 run to create some separation. Three-point plays by Dolezaj and Guerrier in less than a minute staked the Orange to a 20-7 lead just past the midpoint of the period and a putback by Bourama Sidibe boosted the margin to 30-10 with 4:59 left.
The Panthers, who were 6-of-26 shooting (23.1%) responded with an 11-0 spurt to get back in it. Au'Diese Toney and Xavier Johnson each hit 3-pointers to key the run and two free throws by Toney cut the margin to single digits in the final minute before Joe Girard III hit a layup for the Orange to give them a 32-21 halftime lead despite zero points from Hughes, who missed all five of his shots.
BIG PICTURE
Pittsburgh: The Panthers entered the game allowing 61.7 points per game, the second-best figure in the ACC, and are 2-3 on the road, matching their win total on the road in the three previous seasons combined. Pitt still has a chance to boost its resume with road games against Duke and Florida State and home contests against Virginia and Syracuse.
Syracuse: The Orange have an ace in Hughes, whose steady contributions have been as impressive as it gets. Hughes entered the game averaging 19.7 and his season low was 10 points against Iowa in December. In every other game he had scored at least 14 points and in the previous eight his totals were: 18, 19, 19, 18, 18, 19, 17, 26. He also contributed 34 assists and 48 rebounds in those games and has 20 steals and 18 blocks on the season.
UP NEXT
Pittsburgh: Panthers play at No. 8 Duke on Tuesday night.
Syracuse: Orange play at Clemson on Tuesday night.
