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No. 20 Syracuse 62, No. 19 Pittsburgh 59: James Southerland scored 17 of his 20 points in the first half as the Orange hit a season-high 12 3-pointers and held off the Panthers in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament at Madison Square Garden.

C.J. Fair tallied 13 points and seven rebounds while Brandon Triche finished with 12 points for fifth-seeded Syracuse (25-8), which defeated Pittsburgh for only the second time in their last six meetings at this event. Michael Carter-Williams added 11 points, six rebounds and seven assists for the Orange, who will meet top-seeded Georgetown in Friday's semifinals.

Lamar Patterson paced Pittsburgh (24-8) with 14 points and matched a career high with 11 rebounds.

Triche and Southerland scored all the points for the Orange – including three 3-pointers – during a 13-1 burst that broke open a tie game midway through the first. Southerland knocked down two more 3-pointers before the break and Fair added one of his own at the buzzer to send Syracuse into halftime with a 40-27 advantage.

Pittsburgh spent the entire second half chipping away at the deficit, rallying to within four or five points four times before closing to 58-57 on a three-point play by Tray Woodall and a layup from Talib Zanna with 32 seconds remaining. However, Zanna missed a free throw to complete his own three-point play to knot the game and Carter-Williams hit four free throws over the final 28 seconds to preserve the victory.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Southerland hit all six of his 3-pointers Thursday and is 12-for-15 beyond the arc in two Big East tournament games. … Pittsburgh fell to 3-6 against ranked opponents. … The Orange made as many 3-pointers (eight) in the first half as the Panthers converted field goals.