Ithiel Horton scored 17 of his game-high 25 points in the second half to help Pittsburgh upset host Florida State, 56-51 on Wednesday night in Tallahassee, Fla.
The Panthers (9-16, 4-10 Atlantic Coast Conference) snapped a four-game losing streak with the victory. Florida State (13-10, 6-7 ACC) dropped its fifth in a row as it continued to struggle as its depth was tested once again.
The Seminoles played with their roster severely short-handed as Malik Osborne (ankle), Anthony Polite (wrist) and Naheem McLeod (hand) all were out against Pitt. John Butler (ankle) returned to action, but finished with only two points and six rebounds and fouled out with under two minutes left in the game.
Caleb Mills scored 19 points and went 4 of 8 from 3-point range while Matthew Cleveland totaled 12 points and seven rebounds. But it wasn’t enough for the Seminoles to offset another poor shooting performance as FSU shot 28.6 percent (16 for 56).
Both teams had dismal shooting performances in the first half as Pitt shot 25 percent (7 for 28) and FSU shot an even worse 5 for 28 (17.9 percent).
But Pitt found its stroke from 3-point distance in the second half, hitting 6 of 12 attempts from beyond the arc. Horton shot 7 for 13 from 3-point range and collected five rebounds for the game.
Jamarius Burton, who scored 11 of his 13 points in the second half, hit his lone triple with just over three minutes left to help Pitt begin to pull away.
Wyatt Wilkes’ 3-pointer with 57.7 seconds left were his lone points of the game and cut Florida State’s deficit to 49-46. But Burton answered with a jumper at the other end with 34 seconds left.
Following a layup by RayQuan Evans for the Seminoles, Burton and Horton each hit a pair of free throws and John Hugley (seven points and eight rebounds) hit one of two to help Pitt seal the outcome.
–Field Level Media
