The Pitt Panthers (19-10, 8-7) defeated the Boston College Eagles (9-18, 1-14) 71-65 Tuesday night at the Peterson Events Center in Pittsburgh.
Sophomore forward Jamel Artis scored 24 points for Pitt. Also scoring for the Panthers were sophomore forward Michael Young with 22 points and nine rebounds and redshirt senior guard Cameron Wright with 10 points.
Pitt never trailed in the final 33 minutes of the game. The Panthers built an early lead, holding Boston College without a field goal for over eight minutes at the start of the contest.
The Eagles’ ACC leading scorer junior guard Olivier Hanlon scored a season-high 39 points. Tuesday’s game marks the fourth 30-point game in the Panthers’ last six games.
“[Olivier] Hanlan was terrific; he kept going and making free throws, but we made the plays,” head coach Jamie Dixon said. “We got the ball to the right guys and did some good things by getting the ball inside which is what we wanted to do.”
Boston College graduate student guard Aaron Brown scored 20 points.
Pitt also won the first meeting 61-60 in overtime on January 6.
“The first time we played Boston College, it was very tight going down the stretch, an overtime game,” Artis said. “We wanted to come out here and be more aggressive—rebound, play defense, score. Our team looked for us a lot so we just tried to be strong this second game.”
The Panthers were 24-of-34 from the line. The Eagles went 17-of-24 in free throw shooting.
“We got the team going with the free throws; that was something we talked about,” Dixon said. “We don’t want to give [opponents] free-throws and that’s something we have to do. We have to do a better job with guys who have foul trouble. We went into a zone at the end and that helped slow it down a bit. Our defense isn’t perfect yet; we’re trying to get better.”
Pitt faces Wake Forest (12-15, 4-10) Sunday at 6:30 pm ET at the LJVM Coliseum in Winston-Salem, Nc.
