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COLLEGE BASKETBALL Patterson, Panthers paste Pirates
nFormer McCaskey star scores a team-high 12 to lead No. 23 Pittsburgh over Seton Hall. ASSOCIATED PRESS,
Lamar Patterson scored 12 points and No. 23 Pittsburgh pulled away late for a 56-46 victory over Seton Hall on Monday night.
Freshman center Steven Adams added eight points, 15 rebounds and two blocks for the Panthers (19-5, 7-4 Big East), who won for the sixth time in their last seven games by simply surviving on a night they struggled to get into any sort of rhythm.
Cameron Wright scored six of his eight points during a game-ending 18-8 surge that prevented Pitt from suffering a letdown following an emotional win over Syracuse on Saturday.
Fuquan Edwin led the Pirates (13-10, 2-8) with 23 points but was slowed after injuring his right ankle midway through the second half. Seton Hall shot just 33 percent (14 of 42) from the field and made just two baskets over the final 10 minutes.
Pitt finally found some breathing room midway through the second half after Seton Hall took a 39-38 lead. Patterson hit a layup off a nice feed from Adams to put the Panthers in front for good and Adams followed with a nifty spin move for a dunk.
The quickly developing 7-footer hung on the rim, however, and received a technical foul for his efforts. Seton Hall's Kyle Smyth hit both free throws to pull the Pirates back within 42-41, but things changed for Seton Hall after Edwin landed awkwardly on his right ankle while battling for a rebound with 7:38 remaining.
He hobbled to the bench and returned to the game a minute later after a quick examination, but he wasn't the same.
Neither were the Pirates.
Though Edwin would somehow make a lay-up while basically playing on one foot, it marked Seton Hall's only bucket for a 10-minute span until Haralds Karlis put home a meaningless dunk in the waning seconds.
The Panthers vaulted back into the rankings following a 65-55 upset of the Orange over the weekend, the kind of victory Pitt needed to give its steady but hardly spectacular resume a boost.
Barely 48 hours after the season's biggest triumph, the Panthers flirted with giving away all of their hard-won positive momentum.
Syracuse 63, Notre Dame 47: C.J. Fair had 18 points and 10 rebounds, freshman Jerami Grant scored a season-high 14 points, and No. 9 Syracuse beat the No. 25 Irish to snap a two-game losing streak that had dropped the Orange three spots in the rankings.
Syracuse (19-3, 7-2 Big East) was coming off consecutive road losses against Villanova and Pittsburgh and has only three conference losses in its last 32 Big East games. The Orange have now won a school-record 36 straight games at home, the longest active streak in Division I. Notre Dame (18-5, 6-4) had won three straight.
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