Pittsburgh Falls To Syracuse, 71-66
1/6/2001 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Pittsburgh Falls To Syracuse, 71-66
1/6/2001
PITTSBURGH (AP) - Syracuse held Pittsburgh scoreless for nearly eight minutes down the stretch and the No. 14 Orangemen rallied from a 15-point deficit behind Preston Shumpert's 20 points to win 71-66 Saturday night.
Shumpert hit a layup and a 3-pointer during a decisive 13-0 run that helped the Orange (13-1, 2-0 Big East) open a 66-58 lead after they trailed 48-34 with 15 minutes remaining.
Damone Brown had 16 points and DeShaun Williams added 12 to overcome a 23-point game by Ricardo Greer, who led Pitt to a 33-18 lead despite playing on a badly sprained ankle.
Williams and Brown each made 8-of-10 free throws as Syracuse went 26-of-35 at the line - 14-of-20 in the second half - to Pitt's 9-of-21.
Syracuse beat the Panthers (9-4, 1-1) for the sixth consecutive time overall and the eighth in a row in Pittsburgh, where Pitt hasn't beaten the Orange since Jan. 8, 1992.
Syracuse's comeback began when coach Jim Boeheim switched out of the 2-3 zone that Pitt had no trouble solving to a full court man-to-man that quickly caused five turnovers in a span of six Pitt possessions.
Pitt had 25 turnovers, 14 in the second half, and didn't score after Brandin Knight's three-point play with 8:18 remaining until Julius Page's free throw with 34 seconds remaining. Pitt's 58-53 lead turned into a 66-59 deficit during that span.
Greer, held to eight points in a 62-51 victory Wednesday night against Miami partly because of the ankle injury, had scored nine points on three consecutive possessions - two 3-pointers and a three-point play - to put Pitt up 46-32 with 16:03 remaining.
The Orangemen, playing their first road game outside the Carrier Dome except for the Great Alaska Shootout, then went on a 12-2 run to whittle the lead to 52-49 on Allen Griffin's dunk with 10 minutes remaining.
Syracuse got to within one point several times, then took its first lead since the opening minute on Griffin's lay-in with 3:42 remaining.
Brown then scored ahead of Shumpert's 3-pointer and Williams' two free throws to close out the 13-0 run.
Syracuse is 27-8 against Pitt in Big East play. Pitt was playing the first of five consecutive games against Top 25 teams.
