Blake Hinson leads Pitt past West Virginia

Entering the 190th installment of the Backyard Brawl, West Virginia coach Josh Eilert reminded his team about the scoring ability of Pitt's Blake Hinson.

The senior then poured in a career-best 29 points Wednesday night, helping the Panthers get past the host Mountaineers 80-63.

Hinson went 9-for-15 (60 percent) on 3-point attempts and the Panthers knocked down 16 treys in total. Carlton Carrington added 16 points and nine assists.

An 8-0 West Virginia run gave the home team command in the early stages. Pitt started 3-of-10 from beyond the arc before connecting on four of its next six.

That included three straight makes in about a minute and a half that were part of a 10-0 charge. That run was spurred by Guillermo Diaz Graham's trey with 10:18 remaining in the first half. Hinson and Carrington followed suit, the latter making it a four-point play to take a 23-17.

The Panthers then went ahead by as many as seven points, but a West Virginia push late in the period — powered by Quinn Slazinski's seven points over the final 2:11 — kept the Mountaineers within one at halftime.

Pitt went 13-for-34 (38.2 percent) from the floor in the first half, including 9 of 23 from long range. West Virginia, meanwhile, was 11-for-27 (40.7 percent) - but just 2-for-10 on 3-pointers.

Twice in the first five minutes of the second half, Hinson hit a trey to reclaim the lead after a dunk by Jesse Edwards. After a bucket by the Mountaineers, the Panthers took the lead for good on a 3-pointer by Diaz Graham. It was part of a 12-2 run that helped Pitt pull away.

West Virginia — which entered the matchup averaging the fewest points per game (64.1) in the Big 12 — was paced in scoring by Slazinski's 22 points. He added six boards.

Pitt entered averaging an Atlantic Coast Conference-high 29 3-point attempts per game. They put up 23 in the first half alone.

—Field Level Media