Pitt Closes Regular Season with Win Over NC State

The Pitt Panthers escaped with a pivotal win that clinched a top-four seed in the ACC Tournament.

PITTSBURGH -- On an emotional Senior Night at the Petersen Events Center, the Pitt Panthers faced an opportunity to both climb up the NCAA Tournament bubble and lock down a double-bye in next week's ACC Tournament as they matched up against NC State. 

The Panthers did just that, finishing out the regular season with an 81-73 win over the Wolfpack. Pitt shot 50% from the field and 40% from three-point range while scoring 40 points in the paint to go with 16 assists. NC State made things interesting down the stretch in the second half and nearly erased a 17-point deficit, but the Panthers held strong and did just enough to escape with a victory. 

The Panthers missed their first four attempts from the field before Federiko Federiko came through with a slam at the 17:45 mark. A 4-of-6 start for the Wolfpack, however, helped them jump out to a 9-6 lead before the first media timeout at the 15:36 mark. 

The Wolfpack extended their lead to five points at the 10:20 mark, but a Guillermo Diaz Graham three and Jaland Lowe floater tied the score at 21-21 going into the second media timeout at the 9:17 mark. 

NC State's success around the rim confounded the Panthers' defense early as it opened the contest shooting 8-of-8 on layups. Pitt kept pace though, going in front on a Lowe corner three at the 7:21 mark as it took a 33-26 lead into the media timeout at the 3:49 mark. 

With the Wolfpack in the midst of a 1-of-9 slump as DJ Horne dealt with an injury, the Panthers grew their advantage to 11 points after Blake Hinson knocked down a pair of free throws. NC State snapped its scoring drought on a Jayden Taylor and-one at the 1:20 mark before Pitt carried a 39-29 lead into halftime. 

Pitt didn't find its usual success from behind the arc in the first half, shooting 2-of-8, but its inside scoring kept the offense humming. The Panthers recorded 26 points in the paint and shot 14-of-22 on two-point field goal attempts as six different players scored at least five points. 

Despite starting 10-of-15 from the field, the Wolfpack fell back down to Earth as the half trudged on, eventually finishing with a shooting percentage of 44.4%. The Panthers found ways to slow down their torrid pace on the interior and remained steady on the perimeter as well, all in all resulting in a strong defensive showing over the first 20 minutes. 

Leggett, Hinson and Lowe ended the first half in a three-way tie as Pitt's leading scorer with seven points while D.J. Burns paced NC State with eight points on 4-of-7 shooting. 

Taylor and Bub Carrington exchanged threes to open the second half before Hinson nailed his first three-pointer of the contest at the 17:05 mark. A Zack Austin windmill dunk in transition widened Pitt's lead to 52-35 before a media timeout at the 16:20 mark. 

The Panthers scored just two minutes over the following four minutes as NC State cut its deficit to 10 points after Casey Morsell converted a pair of free throws. Hinson broke Pitt out of its malaise with a layup before it took a 56-46 lead into a media timeout at the 11:06 mark. 

Carrington's third make from behind the arc pushed the Panthers' lead back to 13 points on their first possession out of the stoppage. A 4-of-4 run by the Wolfpack, however, trimmed it to 66-56 leading into a media timeout at the 7:22 mark. 

Carrington and Hinson both made shots that brought Pitt's lead back up to 70-56. A pair of threes by Taylor reduced the NC State deficit to six points as part of an 8-0 run, forcing the Panthers to burn a timeout at the 4:39 mark. 

A scoring drought of over three minutes hamstrung Pitt in the closing minutes of the game as the score stood at 70-66 with 2:39 left. Two free throws from Taylor made it a two-point game before Federiko cleaned up a missed layup from Lowe and pushed the lead to 72-67. 

Strong ball movement freed Carrington for an easy look from three-point range, but Taylor quickly responded with a triple of his own as the Panthers' lead held at 75-70 with 1:00 remaining. 

Pitt broke the NC State press with an and-one dunk by Diaz Graham off of a lob by Carrington, making it 78-70 before Mohamed Diarra drilled a three just seconds later. 

The Panthers went on to capture the victory after Carrington and Austin went a combined 3-of-4 from the line, clinching a double-bye in the ACC Tournament for the first time in program history. 

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