NEW YORK _ What has been a frustrating, agonizing, befuddling and occasionally nauseating season for Pitt will continue for at least another day.
Michael Young finished with a team-high 17 points and nine rebounds, leading a group of four seniors that combined for 53 points, to lift the Panthers to a 61-59 victory against Georgia Tech in the first round of the ACC tournament at the Barclays Center.
Pitt (16-16) _ which had lost on the road to the Yellow Jackets, 61-52, just seven days earlier _ held its opponent to a field goal percentage of just .355, helping it compensate on a night in which it shot just 38.9 percent.
Sheldon Jeter added 14 points and eight rebounds, while Jamel Artis and Chris Jones also finished in double figures with 11 points each. With the win, Pitt, the tournament's No. 14 seed, will match up against sixth-seeded Virginia at 9 p.m. Wednesday. The Panthers beat the Cavaliers, 88-76, in overtime in their first meeting before being steamrolled by them last Saturday, 67-42, a game in which Young and Artis, the team's two leading scorers, were benched for the opening 10 minutes.
A group that has collectively lacked focus or drive in recent showings, at least based on its on-court demeanor, came out engaged and aggressive, racing to an 11-2 lead while forcing the offensively challenged Yellow Jackets to miss 11 of their first 12 shots.
As the minutes ticked off, that hot start gradually cooled. By halftime, the teams had combined to shoot only 37.9 percent (22 of 58), with Pitt missing 10 of its 11 3-pointers, and Georgia Tech had gotten within 29-26.
The Panthers continued to fade in the opening eight minutes of the second half, falling behind by four, 41-37, after a three-point play from ACC all-freshman honoree Josh Okogie. In a four-minute stretch that followed, however, a team in desperate search of its outside stroke found it, as Jones and Jonathan Milligan teamed up to make three 3s in that period, two of which came from Jones, to go up, 48-41, with 7:25 remaining.
That advantage, though, as so many of Pitt's leads have in recent weeks, vanished and did so quickly. The Yellow Jackets responded to that deficit by scoring eight unanswered, taking the lead almost as fast as it lost it.
Then, for the Panthers, came the needed dagger. Artis responded to the opposing onslaught, burying a 3 that put his team back on top, 54-51, with 3:18 remaining. With the shot clock winding down with about a minute remaining, Young added a layup over ACC defensive player of the year Ben Lammers to give Pitt a five-point lead it wouldn't lose _ though it came close to doing so.
An Okogie put-back layup got Georgia Tech within two, 59-57, with 6.5 seconds remaining. The Panthers inbounded it to sophomore Cameron Johnson, its best free throw shooter with at least 10 attempts on the season, who made one shot to extend the lead to three. Okogie was fouled before being able to attempt a game-tying 3 with 2.2 seconds remaining, making both shots. Artis collected the ensuing inbound pass and was fouled, making the final of his two attempts.
