Donnie Freeman was on top of his game again Saturday, hitting three 3-pointers and pouring in 22 points as Syracuse won its second in a row with an 83-72 victory over Pitt in Pittsburgh, Pa.
JJ Starling also made three shots from distance and scored 19 points for the Orange (11-5, 2-1 ACC), who beat the Panthers (7-9, 0-3) to snap a two-game losing streak in the series. William Kyle III chipped in 11.
Pitt lost its third in a row despite a monster 29-point effort from Brandin Cummings, who was 11-of-17 from the field. Roman Siulepa added 13 points.
The Orange entered the weekend leading the ACC in scoring defense as opponents were averaging just 65.3 points per contest against them.
They gave up more than their average in this one but allowed only one field goal in the final 3:26.
Syracuse went to halftime with a 48-37 lead and opened the second half in strong fashion, leading 59-42 with 16:12 remaining after Starling hit a 3-pointer.
Cummings pulled Pitt within 72-66 with 6:33 to go after making his second 3-pointer of the day, but Freeman answered 29 seconds later to give the Orange a nine-point lead.
The Orange led 77-70 with 3:26 to play and held on from there.
Syracuse wasted little time grabbing the upper hand against Pitt, using a 13-0 run that ended with a 3-pointer from Nate Kingz and a layup by Starling, giving the Orange a 13-2 lead with 14:36 to play.
The Panthers went more than five minutes without scoring early in the half but battled back and sliced the lead to single digits with 7:09 in the first after Omari Witherspoon hit a 3-pointer that made it 31-22.
The Orange responded moments later with a shot from distance by Tyler Betsey that pushed the lead back to 34-22.
Syracuse made 8 of 15 3-pointers (53.3%) in the opening half to lead by double digits.
–Field Level Media
