PITTSBURGH — Pitt basketball earned perhaps the biggest win of the Jeff-Capel era in front of a raucous crowd at the Petersen Events Center on Saturday afternoon, taking down Miami by a score of 71-68.
In the final 25 seconds, No. 20 Miami’s Isaiah Wong attempted to give the Hurricanes back the lead after Pitt had come all the way back. However, on his shot attempt, Pitt’s Jamarius Burton ripped the ball out of his hands and the Petersen Events Center exploded. Pitt took the lead, and with five seconds remaining, the Hurricanes looked to pass the ball in-bounds to forward Norchad Omier, but the pass was intercepted by Pitt’s Greg Elliott and he was quickly fouled.
Elliott hit both free throws with two seconds left, Miami’s Isaiah Wong missed his game-tying three at the buzzer, and Pitt had completed the comeback.
Elliott and the Panthers went on an emphatic 11-0 run in the final two-and-a-half minutes of the game to take home the huge conference victory.
As the clock hit one minute remaining, Pitt’s Nelly Cummings threw up a floater and drained it, trimming Miami’s lead to one. After Jamarius Burton intercepted a Miami pass on the next possession, he took it coast-to-coast, missed the lay-in, but had Blake Hinson behind him for the tip in. Pitt had its first lead of the second half in a huge conference game.
Blake Hinson led the Panthers with 21 points, hitting 8 of his 18 attempts (5-for-11 3FG). Burton finished with 19 points, hitting 7 of his 18 shots to secure the win.
After taking a 6-0 lead to start the game, Pitt surrendered the lead shortly thereafter and Miami took over control of this one. The Hurricanes used a 20-5 run near the end of the half to build their lead into double-digits, but Pitt hung around and used a deep Blake Hinson three at the buzzer to trim the halftime lead to just five points.
For Miami, Jordan Miller cruised to 14 points in the first half, hitting six of his seven attempts. Isaiah Wong, Norchad Omier, and Bensley Joseph each contributed five points in the frame.
To start the second half, the Hurricanes poured in seven of their first ten shot attempts and quickly built their lead back up to double digits.
With just over 13 minutes to go in the second half, Jamarius Burton scored seven straight points for the Panthers, including his first three-pointer of the game. With Burton’s personal 7-2 run, Pitt pulled within six points. Minutes later, Burton got his defender in the air with a pump fake, drove to the lane, and found a wide-open Hinson, who hit his third three pointer of the night and brought Pitt within five.
Hinson stayed hot, hitting another three with over five minutes to go to cut the Miami lead down to just three. However, Miami’s Isaiah Wong wouldn’t go away, and hit one himself to fend off Pitt’s ferocious comeback.
Miami was led by Miller, who finished with 18 points, and Wong, who added 14.
During the game, Pitt celebrated the 20th anniversary of the 2003 Big East Championship-winning Panthers. Head coach Ben Howland and several former Panthers were honored at halftime.
With the win, Pitt (15-7, 8-3 ACC) moves into third place in the ACC behind Clemson and Virginia. Miami falls to 16-5, 7-4 ACC with the loss.
Wow .. what a game, and what a finish. Miami is a good team and looked better for much of the game. The guys held their own and gritted it out. Great win. Now on to UNC for the rematch. H2P !
That was one of the best finishes I have seen in years for Pitt hoops. Great comeback !
Very nice win. Showed some heart, even after the Elliot turnover. Nice recovery and great finish.
H2P.
Great overall team effort to come back & win this game after Miami took control early in the 2nd half..
Plus, the coaching staff made some nice adjustments to stop Miami’s offense.
Congratulations on a great team win & keep rolling & grinding game after game!! Go PITT!!!