Pitt trailed Towson for 17 minutes in the first half and traded blows with the CAA foe for all but the final 143 seconds of the second half on Friday night at the Petersen Events Center.

But when the final horn sounded, the Panthers had more points than the Titans, and they left the building with a 63-59 win.

Pitt improved to 2-2 on the season after the victory.

Freshman Nate Santos had a team-high 14 points, and Jamarius Burton (11) and Dan Oladapo (11) also finished in double digits.

Towson struck first in the game and Pitt didn’t get its first basket until nearly three minutes came off the clock. But the Titans stayed ahead for most of the half, save for a three-minute stretch when the Panthers forced Towson to miss three baskets.

The Titans recovered, though, and took a three-point lead into halftime at 29-26.

But after Towson built its biggest lead at 37-30 three minutes into the second half, Pitt managed a response. A three from Santos and a couple baskets from Jamarius Burton helped propel an 11-2 run for the Panthers, and that started a back-and-forth affair for the final 10 minutes of the game.

The lead changed on each of the next five baskets and neither team scored consecutive points until Burton followed a jump shot with a free throw 90 seconds later.

That free throw gave Pitt a 46-44 lead, but Towson answered with a three to go ahead again with the clock under six minutes.

From there, it was a matter of the Panthers playing catch up. They tied the game four times over the next four minutes before a Will Jeffress steal led to a three-point basket from Femi Odukale to give Pitt a 58-55 lead.

From there, the Panthers made free throws: Odukale hit one, Santos hit two and Burton hit two to ice the game.

As Pitt battled with Towson throughout the second half, the Panthers did so largely without the contributions of Odukale and center John Hugley. Odukale, who had left the bench for some time in the first half after suffering an apparent ankle injury, and Hugley both started the second half but came out after two minutes.

Odukale eventually came back into the game with five minutes left but Hugley did not return.

With the team’s two leading scorers on the bench, Burton scored all 11 of his points after halftime, Oladapo had six points and sophomore Noah Collier scored seven.

Pitt will host Vanderbilt on Wednesday night at the Petersen Events Center.