Wake Forest Demon Deacons vs Pittsburgh Panthers Match Player Stats On Mar 02, 2021

Nike Sibande scored 23 points and Pittsburgh snapped a five-game losing streak by defeating visiting Wake Forest 70-57 on Tuesday night in a matchup of two teams residing in the bottom third of the Atlantic Coast Conference standings.

The Panthers put together a 13-5 run heading down the stretch to open up a 12-point lead and begin to pull away.

Justin Champagnie finished with 20 points and 13 rebounds for Pittsburgh (10-10, 6-9 ACC), which is a week removed from a couple of roster defections that cost the team its second- and third-leading scorers in Au'Diese Toney and Xavier Johnson.

Wake Forest (6-14, 3-14) lost its sixth game in a row and was unable to pull off a season sweep of the Panthers after winning by one point in January.

Daivien Williamson notched 17 points and Ismael Massoud had 10 points for the Demon Deacons, who were hurt by Pittsburgh's 42-23 rebounding advantage. Wake Forest made 10 shots from 3-point range in 29 attempts.

Sibande shot 7 of 13 from the field and 6 of 6 on free throws. The guard also pulled in nine rebounds and delivered a team-high four assists.

Champagnie's 3-point basket for Pittsburgh's final points marked the only field goal in the last 2:58 for the Panthers, who relied on free-throw shooting to keep a safe lead. Champagnie, who was used in a reserve role in the team's home finale, has been the ACC's scoring leader for a chunk of the season before falling behind Duke's Matthew Hurt last week.

Freshman guard Femi Odukale, who led Pittsburgh in scoring in Sunday's loss at North Carolina State, was limited to five points and made just 1 of 4 shots from the field and 3 of 8 on free throws.

Pittsburgh led 30-29 at halftime and ended up with 13 turnovers in the game.

The Panthers had a scoring drought of almost four minutes in the first half as Wake Forest recovered from a rough patch to take a brief lead.

--Field Level Media