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GREENSBORO, N.C. (AP) - Justin Champagnie scored a career-high 31 points, and Pittsburgh defeated Wake Forest 81-72 in the opening round of the New York Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament on Tuesday.
Trey McGowens scored 14 points and Xavier Johnson added 10 points and eight assists for Pitt (16-16), the tournament's 13th seed. Abdoul Karim Coulibaly chipped in with 10 points and seven rebounds.
Twelfth-seeded Wake Forest was led by Olivier Sarr's 20 points and 13 rebounds. Isaiah Mucius had 19 points and Brandon Childress added 17 for the Demon Deacons (13-18).
The Demon Deacons led 41-40 at the half behind 17 points from Mucius.
The 6-foot-8 Mucius as able to use his size and length to step out and knock down 3s over smaller defenders. But Mucius picked up his fourth foul seven minutes into the second half and had to take a seat on the bench.
It was nip and tuck the rest of the way with neither team leading by more than four points in the second half until Champagnie buried a 3-pointer with 3 1/2 minutes left to put the Panthers up 73-68.
Champagnie, as he had done multiple times in the game, scored on a dunk off a baseline backdoor cut. McGowens drove and banked a shot off the glass to give Pitt its largest lead at 79-70 with 1:40 left.
NOTES
No. 13 seeded Pitt (16-16) advances to Wednesday’s 2 p.m. second-round game versus No. 5 seed NC State (19-12). The Panthers came up on the short end of a 77-73 score when the teams met in Raleigh on Feb. 29. It was their lone regular-season meeting.
Pitt is now 6-6 all-time in the ACC Tournament and 3-1 in first-round games.
Wake Forest (13-18) slipped to 44-63 all-time in ACC Tournament play and to 4-10 in the opening round.
Pitt became the first No. 13 seed to defeat a No. 12 seed in ACC Tournament play. ACC Tournament No. 13 seeds are now 1-6 versus No. 12.
Justin Champagnie scored a game-high and career-high 31 points to lead Pitt, with 16 coming in the opening half. It marked the freshman’s 23rd time scoring in double figures this season.
Trey McGowens added 14 points for the Panthers, and had Xavier Johnson scored 10. Champagnie, Johnson and McGowens have combined for 64 double-figure scoring games this season.
Wake Forest junior center Olivier Sarr finished with a team-high 20 points and game-high 13 rebounds for the 11th double-double of this season and his career.
Demon Deacon junior forward Isaiah Mucius added a career-high 19 points, 17 of which game in the opening half. Brandon Childress’ 17 points marked his 25th game this season in double-figures, including each of the last eight.
Pitt improved to 3-2 all-time in ACC Tournament games played in Greensboro. The Demon Deacons are 17-25 all-time in ACC Tournament games at the Coliseum.
Pitt is now 2-0 versus the Demon Deacons in the ACC Tournament. The Panthers, seeded No. 5, defeated No. 12 seeded Wake Forest 84-55 in Greensboro in 2014.
The Panthers avenged a 69-65 regular-season loss to the Demon Deacons on Jan. 4 in Pittsburgh and snapped a four-game losing skid versus Wake Forest.