On Sunday afternoon, Pitt went into halftime trailing Alabama State 34-31 before putting on a show offensively to blow out the Hornets in the second half on its way to a 73-54 win.

Two days later, the Panthers hosted Fairleigh Dickinson at the Petersen Events Center, and while they took a lead into the locker room at halftime, the feeling was the same, as the home team’s 35-28 lead felt very close to a deficit.

But just as they did on Sunday, the Panthers seemingly couldn’t miss in the second half, shooting lights-out on their way to an 83-61 win.

The victory was Pitt’s second in a row, giving the Panthers their first winning streak of the season and their first since they rattled off three wins in a row last February.

If Pitt can connect on offense going forward like it did in the second half Tuesday night, that winning streak has a pretty good chance of adding a few more before it ends.

It didn’t always look that way against Fairleigh Dickinson. Pitt shot 11-of-32 in the first half and 5-of-16 from three; the Panthers’ only saving grace was that the Knights didn’t do much better, hitting just 2-of-14 from deep and 11-of-33 overall.

But the shots started falling in the second half. Led by Jamarius Burton, who scored 10 points in the final 20 minutes, Pitt was literally perfect after halftime, at least from inside the arc:

17 field goals attempted. 17 field goals made.

Burton was a perfect 5-of-5 from the floor in the second half. John Hugley shot 4-of-4 from two. Blake Hinson was 2-of-2. And Jorge Diaz Graham was 3-of-3.

It was a clinic in working inside the arc, which was a much-needed change from the first half, when the Panthers attempted half of their 32 shots from outside.

Pitt got a game-high 18 points from Burton, who returned to action after missing the Alabama State game with knee inflammation; he also had seven rebounds, four assists and one turnover. Hugley, who was back in the starting lineup after working off the bench on Sunday, scored 17 on 7-of-10 shooting and grabbed five rebounds.

In total, Pitt shot 31-of-58 (53.4%) from the floor and 8-of-25 (32%) from three.

Interestingly, Jeff Capel opted to shorten his bench for Tuesday night’s game, going with seven players until the final two minutes. Those seven did not include guard Nate Santos or centers Guillermo Diaz Graham and Federiko Federiko, who had been in the rotation through the first five games.

With the win, the Panthers improved to 3-3 overall. They’ll be back on the court Friday night when they host William & Mary at the Petersen Events Center.