Carlton Carrington scored 23 points, Blake Hinson added 21 and Pittsburgh defeated NC State 81-73 on Saturday night to claim fourth-place and a double-bye in the upcoming ACC Tournament.
The Panthers (21-10, 12-8), who led by 10 points at halftime, went ahead 52-35 early in the second half and their lead was still 14 after Hinson hit a jumper near the six-minute mark.
But NC State, which hadn’t led since about 8 minutes left in the first half, rallied with an 11-0 run sparked by nine points from Jayden Taylor. The Panthers pushed their lead back to eight points, then Taylor got the Wolfpack within 75-70 when he hit a 3-pointer with 59 seconds remaining
Carlton Carrington established career highs of 27 points and seven 3-pointers and Pitt improved its NCAA tournament resume by earning a 90-65 victory at Boston College on Saturday night. Pitt made 16 of its 30 3-point attempts. The Panthers entered the game leading the ACC in made 3-pointers per game (9.4). Pitt (19-10, 10-8 ACC) received 19 points from Blake Hinson, and 12 points and nine assists from Jaland Lowe. The victory ended Pitt’s two-game road losing streak. Senior center Quinten Post had 30 points — one point shy of his career high — and 12 rebounds for the Eagles, who have lost four in a row. Post made 14 of 22 field-goal attempts. Devin McGlockton added 10 points for BC (15-14, 6-12), which never led in the game. Jaeden Zackery finished with nine. Hinson made three 3-pointers. Lowe, Zack Austin and Guillermo Diaz Graham each made two shots from behind the 3-point arc. Pitt, which never trailed, led 69-45 after Hinson capped an 8-0 run by making a 3-pointer with 9:12 to play. The Panthers led by 32 — their largest lead of the game — following a Carrington jump shot that made it 90-58 with 1:51 to play. BC attempted four free throws in the loss, which dropped its home record to 10-6. The Eagles shot 43.5 percent from the field (27 of 62). Six of Pitt’s first seven field goals were 3-pointers, which helped the Panthers take an early 23-12 lead. BC used a 9-0 run to make it a two-point game, 23-21, but Pitt had a 43-37 advantage following an Ishmael Leggett layup with 2:40 remaining in the first half. The Panthers made 8 of their 16 3-point attempts in the half and had a 47-32 halftime lead. Post had 17 points at halftime. Pitt raised its record to 15-2 in games when it has the lead at halftime. –Field Level Media
