PITTSBURGH (AP) Marcus Carr scored 19 points and was perfect shooting from the floor and Pittsburgh survived a second-half scare to beat High Point, 71-63 on Tuesday.
Carr, a freshman point guard, set a career high in points as he directed Pitt’s offense. He was 5-for-5 from the floor, 3-for-3 from 3-point range and 6-for-6 at the free-throw line.
But Carr also had five turnovers as High Point used a second-half full-court press to erase a 10-point deficit and take a 47-44 lead on Andre Fox’s back-to-back layups. Pitt freshman Khameron Davis converted on a steal and score for to make it 48-47 with 7:40 to play and Pitt led the rest of the way, but never by more than 10.
Pitt turned the ball over 22 times, compared with 10 for High Point, which helped the underdogs keep the game close despite only shooting 37.3 percent from the floor to Pitt’s 55 percent.
Senior forward Ryan Luther scored 15 points and led Pitt with eight rebounds. Luther has cracked double figures in scoring in six of Pitt’s first seven games.
Fox, a junior guard, led High Point with 20 points. He was 8 of 19 from the floor and 2 of 6 from 3-point range.
BIG PICTURE
High Point only has two games against power-conference teams scheduled this season, and they showed progress from the first to the second. The Panthers dropped an 84-53 decision at Tennessee on Nov. 14, but cut their margin of defeat by 23 points against Pitt and did it without the services of second-leading scorer Jahaad Proctor, who missed the game with an ankle injury.
Pitt won back-to-back games for the first time this season and did so with a deeper bench than in the previous game. Kevin Stallings played a season-high 15 men, including all of his 12 eligible scholarship players. Pitt is in a stretch of three games in seven days.
UP NEXT
High Point will return home for a game against non-NCAA opponent Johnson & Wales Charlotte on Friday. That game will tip at 7 p.m. The Panthers are 2-1 at home this season.
Pitt will play cross-town rival Duquesne in the City Game on Friday in a neutral-site game at Pittsburgh’s PPG Paints Arena. Duquesne won the game last year, 64-55, snapping a 15-year Pitt winning streak. The Panthers lead the series 52-32.
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