Pitt beats Boston College in closing seconds on Ryan Murphy jumper

Pitt’s lead had vanished. The momentum was long gone.

You might think Ryan Murphy’s heart was pumping like a hammer behind his jersey and his knees were turning to rubber when he stood 18 feet from the basket in a tie game, staring at the rim.

You would be wrong.

“I felt really calm,” Murphy said after hitting the decisive basket with four seconds left in Pitt’s 74-72 victory Wednesday night against Boston College.

“I’ve shot a good amount of one-dribble, pull-ups in my life. I knew it was going in once it left my hands.”

So much happened in the game – both teams lost double-digit leads – but the bottom line might be this:

The crowd of 7,230 at Petersen Events Center was witness to a birth of sorts. The young Panthers (13-6, 4-4) won only three times in the conference through 18 ACC games last year. Now, they have four in the first eight.

“I wouldn’t think we would have won that (game) last year,” said sophomore Au’Diese Toney, who scored a season-high 16 points. “We were trying to figure out each other.

“We know each other more than we did last year.”

Freshman Justin Champagnie led all scorers and rebounders with a double/double (17/10). Trey McGowens added 14 points – 12 in the second half – Murphy 11 on four-of-five shooting and Xavier Johnson nine with 10 assists.

The victory marked the first time since 2017 that Pitt won back-to-back ACC games in the regular season. It’s a milestone that might inject players with confidence as they go on the road to play Syracuse on Saturday and No. 8 Duke next Wednesday. They need to maintain consistency, but they have made two purposeful strides by beating North Carolina and Boston College.

Murphy, however, doesn’t seem to need any additional confidence.

“He’s always been really confident in his ability to shoot the basketball,” coach Jeff Capel said. “It takes guts to want to be in that moment and to take that shot.

“We’re incredibly grateful for him to have the guts to do that.”

Like any player, Murphy needs to practice his jump shot, but he also carries a character trait with him that no amount of time in the gym can develop.

“I don’t think you instill that,” Capel said. “Some guys have it and some guys don’t. Some guys run from the ball. Some guys want it in that situation. We have a few guys who like to be in that situation and that aren’t afraid of it.”

Murphy’s self-assuredness probably is rooted in the asphalt courts back home in Calabasas, Calif., and on the hardwood at the Pete.

“In the summer, when I work out with my friends in California,” he said, “we play one-on-one with three seconds. You catch it, 3-2-1.

“It’s kind of weird. You don’t think anything of it and you have a game situation and it makes sense. I work on it a lot. I felt really calm. (The BC defender) kept backing up and I said, `All right, that’s too much room.’ ”

Capel was pleased to win the game, but he’s aware the night just as easily could have ended in defeat.

Pitt fought back from a 14-point deficit with a 15-0 run that spanned both halves. But after building a 65-55 advantage with 4 minutes, 22 seconds left, the Panthers allowed Boston College (9-10, 3-5) to score 17 points in the final four minutes. Pitt scored barely enough points to counter BC’s rally, and Capel wants to do something about it.

“We have to continue to do things that got us the lead,” he said. “Namely, defend at a high level. You can’t lose guys. You can’t fall asleep just staring at the ball. You can’t rest, especially on defense. You have to come up with the rebound.”

Capel said he plans to work on similar game situations in practice in the coming days.

“We have to do, as a staff, a better job of helping our guys in those situations,” he said. “We worked on game situations early in the season, but we haven’t done it in a little bit. “Because, obviously, watching it on tape, that’s not working. We need to get in the gym and do some more of those situations.”

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