Au'Diese Toney tipped in a shot with 8 seconds remaining and Xavier Johnson buried two free throws in the final seconds to give Pitt a dramatic come from behind 63-60 victory over Syracuse on Wednesday at the Carrier Dome. The Panthers improved to 6-2 on the season and 2-1 in ACC play. Pitt is now also 3-0 on the road this season. Toney finished with his second career double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds, and made two key baskets down the stretch to help give his team the win.

The Panthers had to overcome multiple double-digit scoring deficits to come out with a win over the Orange. Syracuse forward Marek Dolezaj hit two free-throws with 6:12 remaining to give his team a 55-44 lead. Pitt then outscored Syracuse 19-5 from that point on to steal the victory. Toney's tap-in was Pitt's first and only lead of the contest.

Pitt also found itself trailing by 16 points with 11:05 remaining, and the team was also down 14 points at halftime. The 14-point deficit was the largest Pitt has ever overcome on the road to win a game.

Pitt's game on Wednesday got off to a dreadful start. Syracuse come out firing in the first minutes of the game and built an early 11-0 lead on the strength of three made three-pointers. The Orange eventually built up a 20-6 lead with 12:26 remaining in the first half. Pitt shot just 21.4% from the floor in the first half.

The tide of the game quickly changed in the second half, as Pitt went on a quick 13-3 run to cut into the Syracuse lead at 35-31. The run was fueled by made three-pointers from Xavier Johnson and Ithiel Horton.

Johnson's 3-pointer put him over the 1,000-career point mark. He is the 47th player in program history to achieve 1,000 career points. The junior point guard finished with 12 points and seven assists. All of his points came in the second half, after dealing with foul trouble in the first half that kept him on the bench.

The run was short lived, however. Syracuse got the lead back up to double digits thanks to the play of sophomore forward Robert Braswell. Entering Wednesday, Braswell was 0-12 from 3-point range on the season, but he finished with a career-high 12 points.

Despite the large deficits, Pitt continued to battle. The Panthers got the game down to single-digits on an Ithiel Horton 3-pointer with 8:36 left. Horton finished with a team-high 14 points and connected on four made 3-pointers.

Pitt's final run started with a Toney 3-pointer to make it 55-48. From there, the Panthers continually chipped away, while Syracuse only made two field goals in the final five minutes.

Pitt played Wednesday without leading scorer and rebounder Justin Champagnie, who is out with a knee injury. In his absence, Pitt had a strong game on the boards out-rebounding Syracuse 49-33. The Panthers held down the ACC's top scoring team to 60 points, as Syracuse entered the game averaging 83.7 points per game.

Pitt had nine available scholarship players for Wednesday's contest. In addition to Champagnie, the Panthers were without John Hugley, Nike Sibande, and Noah Collier to due COVID related protocols. Of the nine, eight saw action, while seven found the scoring column.

William Jeffress became the youngest player since Brad Daugherty to start an ACC game at 17 years of age. He finished with 2 points and 8 rebounds. Pitt received a strong showing from Terrell Brown off the bench, as the senior posted 8 points and 4 rebounds.

Pitt is set to host Florida State this Saturday for a 2:00 p.m. tip at the Petersen Events Center as the team will look to improve to 7-2 on the season.