Trent Forrest's last-second shot hit the back of the rim and the Florida State Seminoles, once again dominated at the free-throw line at Pitt, lost to the Panthers for the second year in a row.
Florida State also dropped its season opener for the first time in seven years.
Forrest scored a game-high 19 points and Devin Vassell added 14 (all in the second half), but the rest of the Seminoles struggled mightily on the offensive end in the 63-61 defeat.
Aside from those two, the rest of the FSU players combined to make 7 of 30 shots from the floor. Anthony Polite was 2 of 10.
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Vassell and M.J. Walker, two of FSU's starting guards, didn't score in the first 20 minutes as they both picked up two quick fouls and sat for a majority of the first half.
All told, Florida State was dominated at the free-throw line yet again.
At Pitt a season ago, the Seminoles were called for 30 fouls and the Panthers shot 46 free throws (making 38). Pitt won that game by 13 points.
On Wednesday night, Pitt was 22 of 31 from the free-throw line. Florida State was 13 of 15.
Still, the Seminoles had two chances in the final 40 seconds to either tie the game or take the lead. On the first possession, trailing by one, Vassell tried to make a move to the basket and either fell or was pushed to the floor. Either way, as he was going down, he threw the ball toward Forrest, who then missed a contested mid-range jumper.
After PItt made one of two free throws to extend the lead to two points with 8.4 seconds left, the Seminoles had another chance to tie but Forrest -- who finished with 19 points on 8 of 16 shooting -- couldn't connect on another mid-range jumper. Freshman Patrick Williams got the offensive rebound but couldn't get a shot up before the horn sounded, and the Seminoles walked out of the Peterson Events Center disappointed for a second straight year.
Florida State shot just 39.6 percent from the floor and was out-rebounded, 38-34. Pitt also had 14 offensive rebounds.
The Seminoles, who played without two key transfers because of injury -- point guard Rayquan Evans and center Dominic Olejniczak -- will play again on Sunday at rival Florida.
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