Pitt blows past Oregon State for third place in NIT Season Tip-Off

Pitt didn't allow Oregon State to hang around for long in Friday afternoon's NIT Season Tip-Off third-place contest, leading for all but the first 1:04 of the clash in a 76-51 win in New York.

The win was Jeff Capel's first at the Barclays Center as the Panthers' head coach and Pitt's first-ever against the Beavers. Aided by a quick start, Zack Austin paced the Panthers (5-1) with 19 points and eight rebounds, while Blake Hinson added 17 points.

Ishmael Leggett gave Pitt 15 points and seven rebounds and Federiko Federiko finished with 10 points.

Dexter Akanno paced the Beavers (3-3) with 12 points. Jordan Pope had 11 and Tyler Bilodeau added 10.

Oregon State's only advantage was when the scoreboard read 2-0. Pitt then went on a 7-0 run, including a 3-pointer by Austin, who bucketed 10 of Pitt's first 16 points. He connected on three of his first five tries from the field — all from deep.

The Beavers later pulled within three on Christian Wright's layup with 11:57 before the midway point, but the Panthers replied with seven consecutive points in the two minutes to follow and pushed the count to 23-13. After Leggett's trey that made it 26-16, Oregon State wouldn't find itself within single digits the rest of the way.

Pitt would go up by as many as 18 points before entering halftime with a comfortable 39-27 cushion. Each of Pitt's starters tallied at least five points in the first half.

The Panthers shot 11-for-30 (36.7 percent) before the break. They also went 12-of-13 from the free-throw line.

Meanwhile, over the first 20 minutes, Oregon State shot 8-for-29 (27.6 percent), and just 2-for-15 (13.3 percent) from beyond the arc.

As part of the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge, Pitt returns home — where it began the campaign 4-0 — to play Missouri Tuesday. Oregon State, which has dropped three straight after a 3-0 start, will play UC Davis at home Thursday.

—Field Level Media