Entering the 190th installment of the Backyard Brawl, West Virginia coach Josh Eilert reminded his team about the scoring ability of Pitt’s Blake Hinson.
The senior then poured in a career-best 29 points Wednesday night, helping the Panthers get past the Mountaineers 80-63 on Wednesday in Morgantown, W.Va.
Hinson went 9-for-15 on 3-point attempts and the Panthers (6-3) knocked down 16 treys in total. Carlton Carrington added 16 points and nine assists.
An 8-0 West Virginia run gave the home team command in the early stages. Pitt started 3-of-10 from beyond the arc before connecting on four of its next six.
That included three straight makes in about a minute and a half that were part of a 10-0 charge. That run was spurred by Guillermo Diaz Graham’s trey with 10:18 remaining in the first half. Hinson and Carrington followed suit, the latter making it a four-point play to take a 23-17.
The Panthers then went ahead by as many as seven points, but a West Virginia push late in the period — powered by Quinn Slazinski’s seven points over the final 2:11 — kept the Mountaineers (3-5) within one at halftime.
Pitt went 13-for-34 (38.2 percent) from the floor in the first half, including 9 of 23 from long range. West Virginia, meanwhile, was 11-for-27 (40.7 percent) – but just 2-for-10 on 3-pointers.
Twice in the first five minutes of the second half, Hinson hit a trey to reclaim the lead after a dunk by Jesse Edwards. After a bucket by the Mountaineers, the Panthers took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Diaz Graham. It was part of a 12-2 run that helped Pitt pull away.
West Virginia — which entered the matchup averaging the fewest points per game (64.1) in the Big 12 — was paced in scoring by Slazinski’s 22 points. He added six boards. Edwards had 20 points and nine rebounds.
Pitt entered averaging an Atlantic Coast Conference-high 29 3-point attempts per game. The Panthers put up 23 in the first half alone.
–Field Level Media
