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A Zack Austin left-wing triple and an Ishmael Leggett right-side layup for Pittsburgh tied the game at 61-61 with exactly 5:00 remaining.

For much of the second half, Syracuse — who had come back from an 11-point deficit earlier in the half — had been playing a bench-heavy lineup featuring Quadir Copeland, Maliq Brown and Benny Williams alongside starters Judah Mintz and J.J. Starling.

It was the bench — the one that scored 44 versus Oregon and 40 against Niagara — who paved the way down the stretch for SU (10-3, 1-1 Atlantic Coast Conference) against Pittsburgh (9-4, 0-2 Atlantic Coast Conference). The trio of Copeland, Brown and Williams scored the final 20 points for Syracuse to fend off the Panthers 81-73.

“That’s my team right there every day during practice when it’s orange against blue,” Copeland joked postgame of the lineup. “I’m used to playing with those guys every day.”

Copeland notched a new career-high 22 points. Williams notched a season-high 15. Brown tied his season-high 15, which he set in his last outing versus Niagara. And collectively, the trio drained a season-high 52 points, the most bench points since the Orange had 55 against Boston University in December 2016. They also combined for 24 of SU’s 40 rebounds.

“It’s crucial,” head coach Adrian Autry said of the bench ahead of the rest of conference play. “We don’t rely on five guys. We rely on eight, nine, 10 guys.”

It started with a connection from Copeland to Brown. Positioned at the left wing, Copeland had possession. The Orange had spaced out the floor, which allowed Brown to make a backdoor cut from the top of the key to the basket and get the easy slam.

On the next Pitt possession, Carlton Carrington attempted a cross-court pass to season-leading scorer Blake Hinson. Hinson couldn’t corral it, deflecting it toward Copeland. He stole it from Hinson and went coast-to-coast, finishing with a spinning layup.

Then, Williams made a mid-range jumper, faking out Austin, and scored two more free throws shortly thereafter as an 8-0 run blossomed Syracuse’s lead to 69-61. It was Williams’ best game of the season and his first in double figures since the 2023 ACC Tournament in March.

Williams had a couple of highlight plays as well. Earlier in the comeback, he had a slam dunk after Brown stole the ball from Hinson, resulting in a simple fast-break assist from Starling. Then, during the final stretch, Williams cut along the baseline and snuck behind Hinson as Mintz found him for an alley-oop.

“In particular, I thought Benny was great. I really did,” Autry said. “He came in with great energy. You can just see it in the last couple of weeks. He’s been kind of taking that turn.”

Following a missed 3 by Leggett, Copeland corralled the rebound — he was just one shy of a double-double — and was immediately fouled by Hinson as Pitt began to foul with the contest dwindling out of its hands.

In the bonus, Copeland drained both free throws — two of seven that he made in the final 2:05 — giving Syracuse its first double-digit advantage of the game. Collectively, the Orange went 80 percent from the free throw line, making 24-of-30. Later, Copeland came down with an offensive rebound off a Williams missed 3-pointer, drawing another foul before going 1-of-2 from the line.

The Panthers quickly rushed down and hoisted a 3-pointer, which missed and was rebounded by Brown. The sides traded buckets briefly and after Carrington made a layup for the Panthers, the Orange needed to break the press.

“Benny and Maliq, they were able to plug some of that penetration (and) make them take tough shots,” Autry said.

With a well-orchestrated play, Copeland bounced the ball to Williams in the corner. Williams dished it to Mintz, who found Brown for the easy layup on the other end.

But just as Syracuse didn’t go away, Pitt stayed afloat in the final few minutes. The Orange turned the ball over while trying to break the Panthers’ press. Jorge Diaz Graham intercepted Kyle Cuffe Jr.’s cross-court pass, which led to Jaland Lowe draining a right-wing triple with 34 seconds remaining, trailing by just six.

Out of the Syracuse timeout, Copeland lost possession as a result of an Austin steal, but Pitt couldn’t do anything with it as Lowe missed the ensuing 3. Additional free throws by Williams and Copeland closed out the game for the Orange in a pivotal conference win and snapped a three-game losing streak to Pitt.

“Going into ACC play, we’ve got a couple of big games coming up,” Williams said. “We just want to take this momentum into the next ones.”

Published on December 30, 2023 at 4:03 pm

Contact Cole: [email protected] | @ColeBambini