Pitt men’s basketball earned a much-needed 77-73 win against Syracuse, ending its four-game losing skid.
Sophomore guard Jaland Lowe led all scorers on Saturday with 22 points — 17 coming in the second half. Senior guard Ishmael Leggett also had an efficient afternoon as he scored 16 points with 12 of his points coming in the first half.
The Panthers’ rebounding struggles continued on Saturday as Orange graduate student forward Eddie Lampkin Jr. earned a career-high 23 rebounds against the Panthers. Syracuse also out-rebounded Pitt 48-31, despite the loss.
Syracuse came out the gates firing, hitting six of its seven field goal attempts and three of its four three-point attempts. Every Syracuse starter scored for the Orange in the first 4:39 of the game.
Pitt was feeding junior forward Corhen in the paint to start the game off, as he attempted the first three shots for the Panthers, making two of three. Pitt trailed the hot-shooting Orange 15-9 by the first media timeout.
The Orange cooled down after the media timeout as they would make one of their next three field goal attempts and would only score three points in the next four minutes.
It wasn’t much better for the Panthers as they would only make one field goal as well, but went three for three from the free throw line — something Pitt has excelled at all season long as it leads the ACC in team free throw percentage.
The Panthers continued to play aggressively and earn trips to the foul line. Pitt’s aggressiveness forced Starling to commit two early fouls and get to the bonus with 9:11 left in the half. This helped the Panthers get their first lead of the game, leading 19-18 with 11 minutes left in the first half.
But Syracuse was able to find its footing as Pitt failed to make a field goal for over four and a half minutes, which allowed Syracuse to take a five-point lead.
After the under-eight-minute media timeout with Pitt trailing 28-26, the only player to score was Lampkin who went one of two from the free-throw line. Pitt would end its three-minute scoring drought with a tip-in from junior forward Jorge Diaz Graham.
Diaz Graham would score the next basket for the Panthers with another tip-in and to finish the half, the teams would trade baskets as Pitt trailed 33-32 at the half.
Leggett led both teams in scoring in the first half with 12 points to his name. Lampkin dominated the glass for the Orange as he earned 12 rebounds in the first half alone — just four rebounds short of the number of rebounds the Panthers had in the first half.
Pitt’s first three baskets of the second half were all uncontested layups or dunks at the rim, but Pitt couldn’t take a commanding lead as it kept on allowing second-chance baskets for Syracuse.
A junior forward Guillermo Diaz Graham three-pointed gave Pitt its largest lead of the game — three points. But Lampkin earned yet another offensive rebound — his 15th rebound of the game — and then cut the Syracuse deficit to one.
Pitt and Syracuse would exchange baskets for the next few possessions and the Panthers would lead the Orange 45-43 with 12:58 left in regulation.
After a slow first half where he only scored five points, Lowe would start asserting his dominance in the second half, scoring eight points in the first eight minutes of the second half.
Pitt looked as if it would run away with the game as it took a 53-45 lead with 10:37 left in the half. But that was quickly erased by a 5-0 Syracuse run when Pitt did not get back to defense fast enough in transition.
Again, Pitt tried to run away with the game after responding with a 5-0 run of its own, taking yet another eight-point lead. Syracuse responded with a layup, but Pitt led 58-52 with 7:06 left in regulation.
Redshirt senior forward Zach Austin made his first shot of the game after missing his first five three-point attempts of the game, giving Pitt its largest lead of the game, nine points.
But once more the Orange wouldn’t go away as it chipped away at the Pitt lead and eventually cut the deficit to four after Chris Bell hit a corner three. Lowe kept on responding for Pitt as he made two ever-so-important field goals to help keep it a two-possession lead for Pitt. Pitt led 67-62 with 3:19 remaining.
After Leggett missed a diving floater, Syracuse would go two for two from the free throw line to make it a one-possession game. Austin then made his second-straight three-pointer to stretch the Panthers lead out, but a second-chance basket for the Orange made it a four-point game.
With Pitt leading 70-66 with two minutes remaining, the two teams couldn’t convert on consecutive possessions. Then, Lowe went one for two at the free-throw line, giving Pitt a five-point lead.
The Panthers then forced another stop and Syracuse once again sent Lowe to the free throw line and Lowe, a 91% free throw shooter coming into the game, missed his free throw.
With the miss, the Orange cut it to a one-possession game as Starling made both of his free throw attempts. Pitt, leading 71-68 with 30 seconds left, immediately broke the Syracuse press and scored with an Austin dunk.
But Syracuse hit a three-pointer six seconds after the Austin dunk and trailed by only two points. Syracuse had to foul Lowe once more, but this time he went two-for-two from the line.
The Orange scored a two-pointer right after, cutting it to a two-point game again. But Pitt, the best free throw shooting team in the ACC, was able to close out the game with Austin going two-for-two from the line.
Syracuse couldn’t make a shot to extend the game even longer and Pitt closed out the game, winning 77-73.
Next, the Panthers return home for a battle with North Carolina on Tuesday at 9 p.m. The game will air on ESPN.
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