Damarco Minor’s putback of his own missed shot with less than a second remaining gave Pitt a stunning 64-63 victory against Stanford in the first game of the Atlantic Coast Conference tournament Tuesday afternoon in Charlotte, N.C.
Barry Dunning Jr.’s 16 points, Roman Siulepa’s 14, Cameron Corhen’s 12 and Omari Witherspoon’s 11 paced No. 15 seed Pitt (13-19), which will meet seventh-seeded North Carolina State in the second round Wednesday. Minor’s basket was his second field goal on 10 attempts.
Pitt, which has won four of its last six games, was the last team to make the 15-team field, needing overtime in Saturday’s regular-season finale at Syracuse to qualify.
Freshman Ebuka Okorie led 10th-seeded Stanford (20-12) with 14 points. Benny Gealer had 11 points and AJ Rohosy added 10 points. It was a devastating outcome for the Cardinal, who closed the regular-season on a four-game winning streak and was considered a bubble team for the NCAA Tournament.
SMU 86, Syracuse 69
Boopie Miller poured in 25 points and Jaron Pierre Jr. pumped in 21 points as the 11th-seeded Mustangs had a big second half to pull away from the 14th-seeded Orange, winning in the ACC tournament’s first round and ending a four-game losing streak in Charlotte, N.C.
SMU (20-12) faces No. 24 Louisville, the sixth seed, in Wednesday’s second round. Jaden Toombs provided 16 points, 11 rebounds and six assists and Samet Yigitoglu and Corey Washington both posted 12 points.
Syracuse (15-17) ended the season on a six-game losing streak. Nate Kingz scored 25 points, but he didn’t score in the final eight-plus minutes. Tyler Betsey’s 15 points off the bench gave Syracuse its only other double-figure scorer.
Wake Forest 95, Virginia Tech 89 (OT)
Myles Colvin scored 18 points as the 13th-seeded Demon Deacons beat the 12th-seeded Hokies in overtime in the first round of the ACC Tournament in Charlotte, N.C.
The first-round game between the Hokies (19-13) and the Demon Deacons (17-15) marked the 50th overtime game in ACC Tournament history. Wake will face fifth-seeded Clemson on Wednesday night.
Colvin was one of seven players to score in double figures for Wake. Sebastian Akins had 14 points and Tre’Von Spillers and Mekhi Mason each scored 13. Ban Hammond powered Virginia Tech with 23 points and Jailen Bedford tallied 17 points and eight rebounds.
–Field Level Media
