Pittsburgh Holds Off Buffalo In The Second Half, 84-79

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Six Panthers broke into double digits, including Cameron Johnson and Michael Young, who each scored 17 as Pittsburgh survived a late scare from Buffalo to win, 84-79 Wednesday night.

Pitt was looking to move on from a loss against crosstown rival Duquesne and had seemingly done that, going up by 26 points midway through the first half. But the Bulls clawed back with a 16-2 run to end the first half and got as close as one point in the second half.

Buffalo (4-5) got 23 points and eight rebounds from forward Nick Perkins. Blake Hamilton scored 18.

All 11 bench points for Pitt (7-2) came from forward Ryan Luther.

Overall the Panthers shot a crisp 54.5 percent from the field in the game, hitting 30 of 55, including 7 of 18 from beyond the arc while hitting 17 of 25 from the line.

Buffalo shot 49.2 percent (30 of 61).

BIG PICTURE

Buffalo: Turnovers have plagued the Bulls through the early part of the season. They came into the game with an average turnover margin of -5.3, but reversed that trend against Pitt, turning the ball over eight times while grabbing 10 steals from the Panthers.

Pitt: Senior point guard Jamel Artis returned after serving a one-game suspension for failing to uphold the standards of the team. Artis scored 16 points and made the Pitt offense flow significantly better than it had against the Dukes. The Panthers had 20 assists on 30 baskets, including three from Artis.

UP NEXT

Buffalo: Will return home for a date with Coppin State on Saturday. The Bulls have played just one home game so far this season, a 85-38 win over Nazareth on Nov. 17. Buffalo went 2-4 in its just-completed six-game road swing.

Pitt: Travels to Newark, New Jersey to face Penn State in the neutral-site Never Forget Tribute Classic. The traditional rivals have played 146 times, but not since 2013. Pitt has won its last six games against Penn State.

Join The Conversation On The KDKA Facebook Page
Stay Up To Date, Follow KDKA On Twitter

(Copyright 2016 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)