Jonathan Powell scored 17 points and Chase Foster scored 11 of his 15 points after halftime as visiting Pittsburgh rallied for a 76-64 victory over Butler Friday night in Indianapolis.
After shooting 39.4% in the first three games, Powell made 6 of 11 shots and made key contributions during the decisive 18-3 run that gave the Panthers (4-0) the lead for good.
Powell hit a 3-pointer that sliced the lead to 54-51 with 10:40 left and capped the run with two free throws for a 61-54 lead with 7:25 left. Powell then hit a 3-pointer for a nine-point lead with 2:34 remaining and finished off the comeback with a dunk in the final minutes.
After being held to six points in Sunday’s win over Penn State in Philadelphia, Foster helped key Pittsburgh’s dominant second half.
Foster scored eight points in the decisive run that seized control for the Panthers. He started it with a 3-pointer with 11:58 left, converted a 3-point play that forged a 54-54 tie with 9:52 to go and hit a fadeaway jumper in the paint for a 59-54 lead with 7:39 left.
Foster finished off his big night with a dunk for a seven-point lead with 4:12 left before hitting a free throw less than a minute later.
Baye Ndongo added 13 and seven rebounds for the Panthers, who shot 52% in the second half and 46.4% overall. Naithan George contributed 11 and eight rebounds, including the offensive board that led to Jalil Bethea’s tiebreaking trey that snapped a 54-54 tie with 8:43 left.
Eduardo Klafke led Butler (2-2) with 16 points but was 2-of-10 from behind the arc. The Bulldogs were 3-of-20 from 3-point range in the second half when they were outscored 42-22.
Asim Djulovic added 11 but Jalen Jackson was held to eight on 2-of-11 shooting.
Butler shot 16.1% (5-of-31) in the second half and 32.8% overall while taking its second straight loss.
Klafke’s second 3-pointer gave the Bulldogs a 26-19 lead with 7:53 left and Samis Calderon’s layup pushed the lead to 33-25 with 4:14 left. Butler saw its lead sliced to 33-30 on a 3 by Powell with 3:39 remaining and responded by taking a 12-point lead on two free throws by Klafke with 91 seconds left.
George hit a jumper and Powell dunked with two seconds left to make it 42-34 by halftime before Pitt stormed back in the second half.
