PITTSBURGH — Pitt stared down a 24-point deficit early in the second half of its final home game of the 2025-26 season. With its ACC Tournament hopes in jeopardy, the Panthers dug in and dwindled down the deficit all the way to one possession.

Damarco Minor hit a pair of threes with less than 11 seconds remaining, including a last-ditch floater on the run. However, Pitt could not find the necessary takeaway or stop as Florida State withstood the furious comeback with a 75-74 win Wednesday evening at the Petersen Events Center.

Pitt drops to 11-19 on the season and sits at 4-13 in the ACC. The Panthers face a must-win game on Saturday in Syracuse.

Senior wing Barry Dunning Jr. was a major factor in the comeback effort as he played all 40 minutes and scored 18 of his season-high 26 points in the second half. He posted a double-double with 10 rebounds to go along with five triples.

Pitt shot 41.3 percent on the night and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. Nojus Indrusaitis added 17 points, while Cameron Corhen scored 14.

Chauncey Wiggins and Lajae Jones paced Florida State with 18 points apiece. Robert McCray V scored 14 in the win. Florida State shot 48.3 percent from the field and 40.7 percent from three.

Facing a team that attempts the 10th-most threes in the nation, Pitt attempted to do the same in the first half. Dunning Jr. knocked down the Panthers’ first three attempt of the game, but from there, it was brutally bad.

Pitt missed 11 consecutive threes to end the first half, and a number of them were rather open looks thanks to swift ball movement from the Panthers. The shooting overall was poor in the first half for the Panthers, including a stretch in which they went 2-of-14 from the field.

Following the first media timeout of the contest, Florida State started to pull away. AJ Swinton threw down a dunk and also hit a 3-pointer, but would be lost for the remainder of the game with an injury he suffered landing hard on the floor.

Pitt had the deficit at five points with 9:42 to play in the first, but Florida State quickly pushed its lead to double digits. The Seminoles then generated an 8-0 run with 3-pointers from McCray and Martin Somerville, along with a layup from Thomas Bassong.

The Panthers went scoreless from the field for over five minutes late in the first. A buzzer-beater three from Cam Miles put Florida State up 46-30 at the break.

Florida State’s lead grew to 24 points in a hurry to open the second half after Wiggins and Jones hit threes, which forced a timeout from Jeff Capel.

The Panthers finally saw some its 3-point attempts fall in the second half with a nice shooting touch from Dunning. He was a big reason for the Panthers’ threatening comeback. Pitt engineered a 15-5 scoring run that brought the game within nine points on multiple occasions. Dunning found open space and scored 10 points during that stretch.

Any time Pitt started to seemingly build momentum, FSU had a response by pushing it inside and drawing contact. The Panthers finally narrowed that deficit down to four points after another 7-0 run and another Dunning triple.

Florida State struggled mightily to put the Panthers away as it failed to score a field goal for 8 minutes, 13 seconds. A pair of Corhen free throws made it 67-63 FSU.

Jones made an important three for FSU with 52 seconds, but the Panthers found life with an Indrusaitis three, followed by a pair of free throws from the sophomore. Then, Minor rose up with 13.2 seconds on the clock and hit a three that brought the game within two points.

Florida State’s McCray would sink two free throws before Minor would run up the floor and release a three with one second left. It was too little too late as the Panthers could not get a steal on the inbounds.

Pitt and Syracuse are set to tip off at 4:30 p.m. Saturday on The CW.