If Pitt needed a reminder that it’s not a team that can assume any lead is safe, the Panthers got it on Saturday afternoon when a 16-point advantage turned into a 69-65 loss to Wake Forest.

The defeat at the Petersen Events Center drops Pitt’s overall record to 10-4, and the Panthers are now 1-2 in the ACC after playing two conference games in the early portion of the schedule.

In the first half on Saturday, it looked like Pitt would clear the 7.5-point line that favored the Panthers against the Deacons, who entered the game with a 7-5 record and an 0-2 mark in the conference. Pitt took control early, using a 19-2 run to build a 22-6 lead with 10 minutes left in the half.

But Danny Manning’s Wake Forest squad didn’t go away. The Deacons, who were a turnover machine through the first 15 minutes of the game, tightened up in the waning minutes of the first half and forced Pitt into errors that cut the Panthers’ lead to just three points at halftime.

The score fully rest to 0-0 21 seconds into the second half on a three-point shot from Wake Forest’s Andrien White, but Pitt traded baskets with the Deacons until guard Ismael Massoud got hot. The freshman guard hit a trio of baskets in succession, including two three-pointers to take a six-point lead and force a Pitt timeout at 9:28.

Massoud added three more points on free throws to push the lead to eight points at 59-51 with the clock running under eight minutes, but Pitt battled back. Ryan Murphy hit a three-point shot at 7:16 and the Panthers added five more consecutive points to tie the score.

Things would stay knotted up as the clock ticked up four minutes, but White broke the game open with a three from the corner against the Panthers’ zone, and that was the final dagger, as Pitt couldn’t get back in front.

That’s not to say the Panthers didn’t have their chances, though. Pitt guard Trey McGowens cut the lead to one with an impressive under-the-hoop basket, but he couldn’t nail a pair of free throws the next time the Panthers had the ball.

On the next possession, Justin Champagnie made a strong defensive rebound but Xavier Johnson missed on a runner. And the next time Pitt had the ball, Eric Hamilton whiffed on a curiously-chosen long-range jump shot.

Still, the two teams were separated by one point in the final 30 seconds, but Pitt continued to falter. McGowens lofted a deep three-pointer with 29 seconds on the clock; that shot missed. Then, after Wake Forest missed the front end of a one-and-one, Johnson tried to drive inside the arc but was stymied by the Deacons, and with no timeout called, his flailing shot was off the mark. And as time ran out, McGowens tried one last drive to the hoop with a two-point deficit, but his shot was blocked from behind by Wake Forest center Olivier Sarr.

Murphy was Pitt’s best player on Saturday, scoring a game-high 18 points on 7-of-12 shooting, but the Panthers didn’t get enough from their top two guards. McGowens and Johnson combined to make 7-of-25 field goal attempts and 7-of-10 free throws for 23 points. Pitt’s bench also produced a grand total of five points among three players, while Wake Forest got 32 points from four reserves.

Pitt will continue ACC play on Wednesday night when the Panthers go to Chapel Hill to face North Carolina for a 7 pm tip-off.