Coming off a very disappointing start to the ACC season on Saturday, the Pitt Panthers had to come out of Boston College with a win at all cost.
Thanks to Josh Newkirk the Panthers rallied in the second half to force overtime and eventually came away with a 61-60 victory, their first conference win of the season.
Coming off a few poor performances in a row, Newkirk scored 15 points, including a pair of big buckets down the stretch of overtime.
BC’s Patrick Heckmann’s drained a 3-pointer from the right wing 2:15 into overtime that gave Boston College a 60-55 lead. But Pitt (11-4, 11-1 ACC) scored the game’s final six points, including a driving bucket from Newkirk with only 5.9 seconds remaining to give Pitt the win.
That wasn’t the only time Pitt made a big comeback.
Olivier Hanlan, who led Boston College (7-6, 0-2) with 18 points, hit back-to-back three’s to give the Eagles a 51-41 lead with just over three minutes remaining.
The Panthers responded with a 10-0 run, scoring six points in the final 59 seconds of regulation. Pitt tied things up when Newkirk stole a pass near midcourt and went in for a layup with 31.2 seconds to play.
The Panthers are now 6-0 in overtime games since becoming members of the ACC last season, with five of those overtime wins coming against conference opponents.
Michael Young added 15 points and Sheldon Jeter gave Pitt a big boost off the bench, scoring 11 with eight rebounds.
Neither team shot the ball very well as Pitt made just 38.3 percent of their attempts from the field and Boston College shot just 40.4 percent on the evening.
Pitt will be back in action Saturday afternoon when they will play host to Clemson at the Petersen Events Center.
Photo Credit: USA Today Sports
