Carlton Carrington emerged from his slump to post 19 points, one of four Pitt scorers in double figures, to help the Panthers beat Georgia Tech 72-64 in Atlanta on Tuesday night.
The freshman had made only 7 of 35 field-goal attempts over the past three games but was 6-for-10 with a pair of 3-pointers, six rebounds and three assists on Tuesday as Pitt (12-7, 3-5 Atlantic Coast Conference) beat the Yellow Jackets for the fourth straight time.
Pitt’s Ishmael Leggett scored 14 points, all in the second half, to go along with four rebounds. Jaland Lowe and Guillermo Diaz Graham each scored 12 points, with 10 of Diaz Graham’s coming in the second half. Federiko Federiko had seven rebounds.
Georgia Tech (9-10, 2-6) was led by Baye Ndongo, who finished with 17 points and eight rebounds. Kowacie Reeves added 15 points and five rebounds, Kyle Sturdivant scored 14 points and Naithan George had 10 points. Miles Kelly, the team’s leading scorer, picked up two early fouls and failed to score in 17 minutes.
Pitt leads the series 9-7 since it joined the ACC, but Georgia Tech leads the all-time series 12-9.
The first half was tight, with neither team able to mount a sustained run. Pitt led 31-27 at halftime.
The Yellow Jackets opened the second half with a 7-0 run and took the lead for the first time since 12:29 of the first half. But Pitt later went on a 13-2 run, with a slam by Diaz Graham putting the Panthers ahead 50-45 at 9:12.
The Panthers stretched the lead to a game-high nine points on a pair of Leggett free throws with 4:42 remaining and never led by fewer than five the rest of the game. Leggett iced the game by going 3-for-4 at the foul line inside the final 39 seconds.
Pitt completes a three-game road trip on Saturday against Miami. Georgia Tech plays at Virginia Tech on Saturday.
–Field Level Media