Ebuka Okorie saved his second and third 3-pointers of the night for a late flurry and finished with a game-high 34 points, lifting host Stanford to a 75-67 Atlantic Coast Conference victory over Pitt on Wednesday night.
Okorie also found time for six rebounds, six assists and three steals for the Cardinal (17-11, 6-9 ACC), who snapped a two-game losing streak.
Cameron Corhen had a team-high 22 points and Barry Dunning Jr. 19 for the Panthers (10-18, 3-12), who used a 14-2 burst to take a 63-57 lead on Corhen’s three-point play with 7:08 remaining.
But Pitt scored just four points the rest of the way, eventually falling victim to Okorie’s heroics.
The star freshman began his late run with a layup that put the hosts up for good at 65-64 with 4:07 remaining.
He then stole Omari Witherspoon’s pass, and despite getting a layup blocked by Witherspoon, the Cardinal retained possession. Benny Gealer found Okorie for a 3-pointer and a four-point advantage with 3:27 to go.
After Dunning missed a free throw for the Panthers, Okorie connected from deep again, giving Stanford a 71-64 lead from which the visitors never recovered.
Okorie shot 11-for-19 and made all nine of his foul shots in his sixth 30-point effort of the season. The Cardinal made all 10 of their free throws in the game and shot 50% from the field.
Gealer backed Okorie with 12 points and Aidan Cammann had 11 for Stanford. AJ Rohosy was the Cardinal’s leading rebounder with eight.
Corhen tied Rohosy for game-high rebound honors and also had four assists and two steals for Pitt, which lost despite shooting 49% overall and outscoring the hosts 27-21 from deep.
Corhen had a pair of three-point plays, Dunning a 3-pointer and a dunk and Nojus Indrusaitis a 3-pointer in Pitt’s 14-2 flurry that allowed them to turn a six-point deficit into their 63-57 advantage.
Indrusaitis had 10 points off the visitors’ bench.
The second half featured four ties and seven lead changes, the last on Okorie’s layup with 4:07 left that triggered Stanford’s fast finish.
