Pitt put in a valiant effort for 24 minutes, but the Panthers couldn’t withstand Virginia’s assault from the beyond the arc, as the No. 14 Cavaliers shot 50% from three and beat Pitt 73-66 at John Paul Jones Arena in Charlottesville Saturday afternoon.

Pitt was more than up to the challenge in the first half. The Panthers announced their presence right from the start, hitting three consecutive baskets to take a 7-0 lead, and they led for 14:28 of the first half.

Most remarkable about Pitt’s performance in the initial 20 minutes was the source of the team’s production. Justin Champagnie, the leading scorer in the ACC, did his part with eight points, but he was matched by Abdoul Karim Coulibaly and Ithiel Horton, who had eight each.

But the Panthers went cold late in the half. After Xavier Johnson made a layup to give Pitt a 26-22 lead with 2:39 left in the half, the Panthers got shut out, scoring just one point on a free throw before heading to the locker room trailing Virginia 30-27.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers leaned on their outside shooting to keep up with the Panthers. Virginia entered the game leading the ACC in three-point field goal percentage, and that showed up in the first half as Tony Bennett’s group shot 6-of-15 from beyond the arc.

While the first half was a valiant effort from Pitt, the second half got out of hand. The Panthers hung with the Cavaliers through the first four minutes and were tied 36-36 with 16:21 left on the clock, but then Virginia went on a run. Powered by a quartet of three-pointers, the Cavaliers rattled off a 16-0 run over the next four minutes to turn a close game into something a lot less competitive.

Virginia stretched its lead to 17 points with seven minutes left, but Pitt wasn’t dead yet. Powered by steals and offensive rebounds, the Panthers broke a 12-2 run to cut the lead to seven with a little more than two minutes on the clock. The rally fell short, though, and Pitt couldn’t quite get the deficit under seven.

Champagnie ultimately finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds in the loss. Horton also hit double figures with 12 points. Pitt outrebounded Virginia 33-27 and outscored the home team 42-18 in the paint, but the Cavaliers couldn’t miss from outside, hitting 12-of-24 three-point attempts, including 6-of-9 in the second half.

Pitt (9-6 overall, 5-5 ACC) will go on the road to face Louisville Wednesday night at 9:00 pm in a game that will be broadcast on ACC Network. The Panthers lost to the Cardinals, 64-54, at the Petersen Events Center on Dec. 22 in a game that was played without Champagnie and Au’Diese Toney. z