PITTSBURGH — Armando Bacot scored a season-high 21 points and had 10 rebounds to lead North Carolina to a 75-65 victory over Pittsburgh on Tuesday night.
The Tar Heels (11-5, 6-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) have won three straight games and six of their last seven.
Bacot was 8 of 10 from the floor and was two points shy of his career best. He also had a season-high three blocks. Garrison Brooks scored 16 points and Kerwin Walton had 10 for the Tar Heels, who shot 32 of 61 (52.5%) overall.
Justin Champagnie scored 23 points and had 10 rebounds to lead Pitt (8-4, 4-3), who has lost consecutive games for the first time this season. Ithiel Horton added 12 points.
The Tar Heels took the lead for good five minutes in and built a 34-27 halftime lead. Consecutive dunks from Leaky Black and Bacot gave the Tar Heels their largest lead, 66-50 with about eight minutes left. The Panthers answered with a 13-2 run to pull to 68-63 with 3:50 remaining but didn’t get closer.
Pitt saw its two-game win streak against North Carolina end. Pitt has never beaten the Tar Heels in three straight games.
UNC plays at Clemson on Feb. 2.
Duke 75, Georgia Tech 68
DURHAM — DJ Steward scored 19 points, Jalen Johnson added 18 and Duke snapped a three-game losing streak pulling away from Georgia Tech 75-68 on Tuesday night.
Duke (6-5, 4-3 Atlantic Coast Conference) made 7 of 10 foul shots in the last 79 seconds after Khalid Moore’s layup with 1:40 left pulled Georgia Tech into a tie at 68.
Matthew Hurt’s 3-pointer with 18:40 to play gave Duke its largest lead at 38-27. The Yellow Jackets proceeded to outscore Duke 25-14 over the next 10 minutes and tied it at 52 on Jordan Usher’s layup with 9:30 left.
Duke closed the first half with a 10-0 run and went to intermission with a 33-25 lead. After Mark Williams threw down a dunk to tie it at 25 with 3:37 before the break, Steward made two foul shots and sank a pair of 3-pointers. Georgia Tech missed its last five shot attempts and committed four turnovers in the last four minutes.
Hurt scored 17 points and Jordan Goldwire had 11 for Duke.
Jose Alvarado scored 26 points on 10-for-15 shooting for Georgia Tech (7-5, 3-3). Moses Wright added 12 points with 14 rebounds.
Georgia Tech hasn’t won at Cameron Indoor Stadium since 2004.
The Blue Devils entered Tuesday’s game with the fewest number of wins in their first 10 contests since the 1982-83 season. The 1994-95 squad was the last time a Blue Devils team finished below .500 going 13-18.
The Blue Devils, with six of their next nine games at home, host Clemson on Saturday.
