Pittsburgh Panthers vs Northwestern Wildcats Match Player Stats On Dec 09, 2020

Justin Champagnie slammed home a two-handed dunk with five seconds left Wednesday to give the visiting Pittsburgh Panthers a 71-70 victory over the Northwestern Wildcats in Evanston, Ill.

Champagnie's dunk was the Panthers' (3-1) first lead of the game, as Pittsburgh came back from a 12-point halftime deficit. Champagnie finished with 20 points and 20 rebounds.

The Panthers scored six points in the final 34 seconds. Au'Diese Toney, who scored 18 points, hit two free throws and then Champagnie hit a layup to cut the Northwestern lead to 70-69.

Boo Buie then went to the free-throw line to try to extend the Wildcats' (2-1) lead, but he missed both free throws, setting up Champagnie's heroics.

The first half of the game was a poor offensive showing. Pittsburgh started the game 2 of 24 from the field, including missing its first 12 shots of the contest.

Northwestern couldn't take advantage, however. The Wildcats shot only 33 percent during that same time frame and could only extend their lead to 11.

While the Panthers didn't get hot from the field, they made a few shots to get right back in the contest.

After a 3-pointer from Champagnie cut Northwestern's lead to three, the Wildcats went on a 13-2 run. Chase Audige had eight points during the stretch, including two triples.

Northwestern went into the locker room up 33-22 despite shooting just 36.7 percent from the field. Pittsburgh finished the half shooting 8 of 39.

The poor shooting continued into the second half with neither team hitting a jump shot until Xavier Johnson--who had a game-high 21 points--hit a 3-pointer just under four minutes into the half.

The Johnson 3-pointer sparked a resurgence for the Pittsburgh offense, which made 10 of its next 16 shots. The Panthers cut Northwestern's lead to one point three different times over the next 10 minutes but Pitt didn't breakthrough until the final seconds.

Buie had a team-high 14 points on 2-of-9 shooting for Northwestern.

--Field Level Media