Pitt manufactured some much-needed momentum by defeating Ohio State on Nov. 28 on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer.

That quality win led into Tuesday night at Petersen Events Center, when the Panthers hosted Texas A&M in the ACC/SEC Challenge.

But another Power Five win was not in the cards, as the Aggies fought off a second-half Panthers rally to win 81-73.

Texas A&M (7-2) led by 12 with about 12 minutes to play and survived blowing the lead, plus a 16-0 Panthers run, before retaking control with 4:46 left.

“I’m proud of how we fought,” coach Jeff Capel said. “Disappointed in the loss. I thought we did a lot of really good things to be in a position to win the game.”

With 6:23 to play, Pitt (5-4) was leading 61-57 and stayed in front until the 5:05 mark. But from there, the Aggies regained control.

Four straight free throws made it a 70-65 game in favor of Texas A&M with 2:45 to go, and a 3-pointer by Rashaun Agee served as the dagger.

At that point, with 1:09 to play, Texas A&M led 75-65, as Pitt’s comeback bid ran out of steam.

“Six minutes, 23 seconds left, we’re up four,” Capel said. “We’ve got to be able to close in that situation. We’ve got to have the mental stamina and the physical stamina to be able to make better decisions offensively and defensively in those situations.”

Agee led all scorers with 21 points and added 13 rebounds.

For Pitt, Barry Dunning Jr. contributed a double-double (18 points, 12 boards) on 9-of-14 shooting.

Cameron Corhen, who scored his 1,000th collegiate point in the first half, had 15, as did Nojus Indrusaitis. Damarco Minor dropped 14 points.

As a team, Pitt shot 29 of 61 (47.5%) from the floor and 8 of 26 (30.8%) from long range.

Texas A&M shot 44% (39% from deep) and made 20 of 22 free-throw attempts.

“(Texas A&M) made us pay,” Capel said. “They made some big-time shots and some big-time plays. Give them all the credit.”

Offense was hard to come by for the Panthers early.

With 14:05 left in the half, a Pop Isaacs’ 3-pointer made it 14-5 Aggies, but less than a minute later, it was 14-10 as Dunning hit another shot and Omari Witherspoon drained a 3.

Texas A&M stretched its lead back to five at the 8:56 mark, but a Minor 3-pointer moments later made it a one-basket game.

Minor, the hero of the Ohio State win, had another 3-pointer in him shortly thereafter at the 6:59 mark, making it 26-23 Aggies.

The Aggies and Panthers combined for five points over the final three minutes of the half, with Texas A&M taking a 35-33 lead into the locker room.

Pitt scored the first four points of the second half, but a sloppy stretch allowed Texas A&M to get back ahead 42-37 less than two minutes in.

The Aggies turning to a full-court press gave Pitt major trouble as a turnover by Witherspoon quickly was turned into a 3-pointer by Ruben Dominguez.

After Agee made it 52-43 with a pair of free throws, Texas A&M’s press again got to Pitt, which called a timeout at the 13:30 mark having failed to inbound the ball.

“I feel like they just picked up the pace a little bit,” Indrusaitis said. “They threw the first punch in the second half, and that’s how we went down a little bit. We’ve just got to keep being poised in those moments, take care of the ball and if we do that, we’ll be in a better position.”

Former Panther Federiko Federiko increased the Aggies’ lead to a game-high 11 about 45 seconds later with a layup, and at the under-11 media timeout, Pitt was down 57-45.

A technical foul on Texas A&M’s Mackenzie Mgbako, followed by a Dunning layup, got Pitt within striking distance, and after Corhen hit a bucket in the paint, it was a six-point game.

That led to a timeout by Aggies coach Bucky McMillan, with his team’s lead trimmed to 57-51.

The brief stoppage in play did not stop Pitt’s rally, however, as the Panthers made it a 57-56 score on a Minor 3-pointer leading into a media timeout at the 6:53 mark.

Corhen hit a pair of free throws out of the break, and Indrusaitis hit a trey 31 seconds later to cap a 16-0 run by the Panthers, who now led 61-57.

“We just played our end and stayed aggressive,” Indrusaitis said. “On the defensive end, that’s where we took a step, just not letting guys be comfortable. We just played better on defense in the second half for that little run. But we’ve got to do that for the whole game if we want to win.”

The pendulum swung back in the Aggies’ favor over the ensuing minutes, and with 3:32 remaining, Pitt was trailing again 66-65.

Dominguez gave his team slightly more breathing room with 2:45 left, hitting a pair of free throws to make it 70-65 Texas A&M.

Agee delivered the dagger with a 3-pointer around the 1-minute mark.

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