Don’t call it a comeback

That elusive road win finally came on Saturday.

It took Pitt (21-8, 9-7 Big East) 16… That elusive road win finally came on Saturday.

It took Pitt (21-8, 9-7 Big East) 16 conference games to get a quality Big East win on the road, but the Panthers did it in style at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y. Pitt outscored Syracuse, 18-2, over the final 3:49 to stun the Orange on their home floor, 82-77.

Trailing 75-64, Pitt diligently chipped away at Syracuse’s lead. A pair of foul shots by Pitt guard Levance Fields started the run. Syracuse (17-12, 7-9) made one of its final five shots after that. Two clutch 3-pointers by reserve Gilbert Brown, a layup by Ronald Ramon and two more free throws by Fields cut Syracuse’s lead to one point, 77-76, with 1:07 to play.

The Panthers made a critical stop on the ensuing possession but turned the ball over with 16 seconds left. That set up one of the most exciting plays in recent college basketball memory.

Syracuse’s Paul Harris, guarded tightly by Pitt guard Keith Benjamin, turned his back to his defender. As he turned, Harris lost his dribble, and an aware Sam Young snuck in behind Harris and snatched the loose ball. Then, Young, as he fell out of bounds, delivered an over-the-shoulder, no-look pass to Benjamin, who easily sank an uncontested layup to push Pitt ahead, 78-77. A missed jump shot and technical foul later, Fields had clinched the win.

“That’s probably the best comeback I’ve ever been involved in,” Young told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette Saturday. “We were down 11 with three minutes on the clock. … It shows the confidence we have in each other. [Pitt coach Jamie Dixon] says to play all 40 minutes, and we did.”

Pitt had five players score in double figures. Young led the Panthers with 19 points, five rebounds and four steals. But it was the guard play that made the difference. Benjamin had 17 points, seven rebounds and three steals, while Ramon scored 12 points. Brown had 12 points and five rebounds.

Fields, who played his fifth game since returning on Feb. 15 from a fractured fifth metatarsal in his left foot suffered Dec. 29, had 13 points and five assists. The 5-foot-10-inch junior made all eight of Pitt’s final free-throw attempts, including four in a row with two seconds left to ice Pitt’s win.

The victory pushed Pitt back into sixth place in the Big East, with a tiebreaker over West Virginia.