With a handful of opportunities remaining to start a late-season push and force a way into the ACC Tournament, Pitt will take wins however they come.
Despite blowing an 11-point second-half lead against Notre Dame on Saturday and allowing the Fighting Irish to inch within a basket multiple times in the last minute, Pitt prevailed 73-68 at Petersen Events Center.
In defeating a fellow team also at risk of facing exclusion from the league tournament, Pitt snapped a five-game losing streak that dated to Jan. 27.
“We tried to push through and battle,” coach Jeff Capel said. “For us to make those free throws down the stretch like we did and make some big plays down the stretch — it’s a testament to our guys.”
Nojus Indrusaitis scored a career-high 17 points, and Roman Siulepa dropped a team-most 22 for the Panthers, shooting 7 of 10. Cam Corhen scored 13 with eight rebounds, and Barry Dunning Jr. contributed eight points.
As a team, the Panthers shot 44.9% (22 of 49) from the floor and 11 of 24 (45.8%) from deep.
After crafting a lead of three at halftime, Pitt (10-17, 3-11 ACC) found itself up 11 less than five minutes into the final half.
But Notre Dame erased its deficit to take a 47-46 lead with 7:30 to play.
Pitt responded with a 10-0 run to go up 58-49 with just less than four minutes left, and at the 1:32 mark the Panthers again led by 11.
Notre Dame (12-15, 3-11) did not go down quietly, though.
Inching closer to Pitt, the Irish came within three points twice in the last 23 seconds, but a late dunk by Siulepa and two free throws from Corhen sealed the deal.
“Once again, just proud of the guys,” Siulepa said. “We got that lead and were able to sustain it. They crept back in but like I said, we didn’t get too high (or) too low. We just stayed present in the moment.”
Notre Dame took 38 3-pointers Saturday but made only nine (23.7%).
The Irish, led by Cole Certa (16 points), shot 26 of 65 (40%) from the floor.
“I thought we got great shots to start the game and great shots throughout the game,” Notre Dame coach Micah Shrewsberry said. “We just missed. Sometimes it’s just not your night, and I felt that way for us tonight. We got open looks for our best shooters. Sometimes they go in, sometimes they don’t.”
The Panthers and Fighting Irish navigated sluggish offensive starts.
With 9:55 to go before halftime, only 21 points had been scored and the Panthers were ahead 12-9.
Notre Dame led by one with about six minutes before the break, but Pitt took a late five-point lead on a Dunning layup before heading into the locker room in front 23-20.
Pitt controlled the game to begin the second half and were leading 36-26 following a Siulepa 3-pointer after about four minutes.
While Notre Dame battled approaching the midway point of the final half, Pitt maintained its lead.
Then, a Sir Mohammed jumper handed the Fighting Irish a one-point lead with 7:30 left.
The game stayed within one basket over the next few minutes, but Indrusaitis helped spark the Panthers’ 10-0 run, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to give Pitt a nine-point advantage at the 3:58 mark.
With 60 seconds on the clock, Pitt still had a double-digit lead 67-57, but Notre Dame hit some late shots to stay alive.
Two missed free throws by Damarco Minor with 31 seconds left created another opening.
After those misses, Cole hit a fastbreak layup, was fouled and drained his ensuing free throw, making it a 69-66 game with 23 seconds to play.
Thankfully for Pitt, a successful inbound against a full-court press by the Irish found Siulepa downcourt, and the Australian freshman forward dunked the ball with 16 seconds left for some late breathing room.
A Brady Koehler jumper again trimmed Pitt’s lead to 71-68 with 8 seconds left, but Corhen’s two free throws with 7 seconds on the clock put a bow on things for the Panthers.
“It felt good, and I’m happy we won,” Indrusaitis said postgame. “We closed out the game — could have been a little bit better — but I’m just happy we won.”