A week ago, Pitt scored its first ACC win of the season with a two-point escape against Boston College.

On Saturday, the Panthers needed no such late-game heroics, as Jamarius Burton and John Hugley controlled the second half to beat Louisville 65-53 at the Petersen Events Center.

The win stood as one of Jeff Capel’s most comfortable ACC since he took over as Pitt head coach. Through Capel’s first three seasons, the Panthers won six conference games by double digits, including three last season.

Saturday’s win improved Pitt’s record this season to 7-10 overall and 2-4 in the ACC.

Pitt went into halftime against the Cardinals with a 28-24 lead that seemed improbable given that the Panthers played the final nine minutes of the first half without Hugley, the team’s leading scorer and clear best player. After Hugley was called for his second foul with 9:33 on the clock, he went to the bench for the remainder of the half, and the immediate results were as expected.

The 17-13 lead Pitt held when Hugley left turned into a 22-17 deficit over the course of the next two minutes, and the Cardinals seemed to be taking control.

But then the Panthers battled back. Burton, Mo Gueye and Femi Odukale combined to score four consecutive baskets of varying origin - midrange jumpers, drives and floaters - and after Louisville got a stop-the-run basket from Dre Davis, Burton hit one more and Odukale added a free throw to put Pitt ahead by four.

The second half was all Panthers. More specifically, it was all Burton and Hugley, as the guard-center duo combined to score 24 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the final 20 minutes. Burton finished with a game-high 20 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while Hugley scored 19 on 6-of-10.

Pitt also controlled the glass, out-rebounding Louisville 41-32 and particularly owning the defensive glass; the Cardinals missed 38 field goal attempts but grabbed just four offensive boards.

Hugley, Burton and Gueye had seven defensive rebounds each. Gueye also finished the game with 10 points, eight rebounds and four blocks.

The Panthers will be back on the court Wednesday night to host Virginia in a 9 pm game.