Jeff Capel had no intention of calling a timeout, stopping his team’s momentum and drawing up a play on a whiteboard that his players had the good sense to run, anyway.

This time, he decided to trust Xavier Johnson.

What happened next was maybe more encouraging than anything that’s happened to Pitt in Capel’s three seasons as coach.

Down a point to Northwestern with 16 seconds left Wednesday night, Pitt sophomore Justin Champagnie grabbed his 20th rebound after the second of Northwestern guard Boo Buie’s two missed free throws. He quickly found Johnson, who in turn slipped a pass back to Champagnie, now hanging around the basket.

Champagnie’s dunk gave him 20 points and the first 20/20 game at Pitt in 11 years. More importantly, it sent the Panthers home from Evanston, Ill., Wednesday night with a 71-70 victory against Northwestern in the ACC-Big Ten Challenge.

“He just said (before Buie’s misses) `Rebound, get it to X and let him do his thing,’ ” Champagnie said. “He made a good pass, good finish.”

Added Capel: “We wanted to put the ball in (Johnson’s) hands and he made such a great, unselfish play and that speaks to his maturity.”

All of a sudden, Pitt (3-1) has won three in a row after the disappointing loss to St. Francis (Pa.) in the opener.

“We all know what the feeling is to lose,” Champagnie said. “We don’t want to feel that way anymore.”

Through most of the game, there was a feeling that Pitt was on its way to another loss.

Champagnie’s basket with five seconds left was Pitt’s only lead of the game. Somehow, the Panthers won the game after missing 22 of their first 25 shots, rallying briefly, but finding themselves on the wrong end of a 66-58 score with 3 minutes, 43 seconds left.

There were many reasons for the victory, including:

• Johnson scoring 21 points, giving him 72 in four games.

• Au’Diese Toney adding 18.

• Champagnie dominating the glass, helping Pitt to a 54-34 rebounding edge and recording the first 20/20 by one of Capel’s players since Blake Griffin did it at Oklahoma about a decade ago.

But those items tell only part of the story.

Capel was especially pleased with Pitt’s defense that held Northwestern to 70 points and a 36.8 shooting percentage after the Wildcats (2-1) had scored 203 points in their first two games.

“We just could not make a shot (early in the game),” Capel said. “But the one thing we did was we really defended at a high level.

“We came in at halftime (down 33-22) and we told our guys just to relax. You could tell the guys were putting so much on their plate and (were) frustrated and wearing their frustration on their face because of our offense.

“They were missing the fact that we defended at such a high level. We told them the offense will come, but keep defending at a high level.”

Then, there was the freshman factor.

William Jeffress, who is six months shy of his 18th birthday, played 33 minutes, scored seven points with four rebounds and added two assists. With Pitt down eight late, Jeffress triggered the decisive rally by feeding freshman John Hugley for a dunk that turned into a 3-point play when he was fouled.

“He’s someone we trust,” Capel said of Jeffress.

When Johnson left for five minutes midway through the second half with four fouls, freshman Femi Odukale ran the offense. He made a backcourt steal with 28 seconds left that led to a basket by Champagnie, cutting Northwestern’s lead to 70-69.

Pitt ended up shooting 53.1 percent in the second half, but Capel said defense made the difference.

“I think it’s desire. I think it’s toughness. I think it’s having a grasp of what you’re trying to do,” he said. “I think it’s togetherness. I think it’s all of those things.

“Our guys fought and competed in a way that makes all of us, the coaching staff, really, really proud.”

NOTES: Champagnie is the first Division I player this season with a 20/20 and he joins DeJuan Blair (2009) as the only Pitt players to reach those marks in the past 25 years. At 6-foot-6, he’s also the shortest ACC player to record one in the past quarter-century. … Game time for Pitt’s game Saturday against Gardner-Webb at Petersen Events Center has been changed to 4 p.m. It will be televised by AT&T SportsNet.

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