CINCINNATI -- For the second time in two weeks, Pitt had a chance to win or tie a game on its final possession. And for the second time, the Panthers failed to get off a shot that hit the rim.

Trailing by three points at Cincinnati yesterday afternoon, Pitt had 15 seconds to get the ball up court and set up a play for a 3-point shot. But all the Panthers could manage in that 15 seconds were two 3-point attempts from Keith Benjamin. One was blocked and the other came up well short as time expired.

Cincinnati walked away with a 62-59 victory inside Fifth Third Arena that had the Panthers frustrated afterward.

"This is the second one that we lost," Benjamin said. "You give the other team credit for capitalizing, but, in this conference, you can't just give games away. This is a game we gave away."

The final possession was particularly frustrating for Sam Young. When Pitt lost at Villanova Jan. 6, the Panthers failed to get a shot off with a chance to win the game on the final possession. Young, Pitt's leading scorer, also failed to touch the ball on that pivotal possession.

"We should have gotten a better shot than that," Young said. "That was a terrible shot. I don't know what to say about that shot. I really don't think too much of it. It's something we can learn from."

The last possession was a microcosm of the game for the Pitt offense. The Panthers managed to shoot 42 percent, but they had to rely way too much on Young, who scored a game-high 24 points.

For almost 12 minutes in the second half, Young was the only Pitt player to make a shot from the field.

Young single-handedly kept the Panthers in the game during that span, scoring 15 of Pitt's 17 points. The other two came courtesy of two Gilbert Brown free throws.

"We became too stagnant, looking at the ball, looking at Sam," Benjamin said.

"We talk about getting good shots every possession, and I don't think we did," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon.

"I thought we rushed some things."

But Dixon did not blame the end-game execution for the loss. Rather, he blamed a poor start to the game when the Panthers fell behind and were forced to battle their way back into the game.

Pitt led at halftime, 28-27, but Dixon thought his team should have secured a bigger margin.

"From the start, we didn't play well," Dixon said.

"Our shot selection wasn't as good as it has been. I don't think the issue was our last couple of minutes. Our first five minutes put us in trouble."

Pitt battled back from a double-digit deficit and fought hard for its final opportunity. Cincinnati scored 13 consecutive points midway through the second half and led, 53-40, with 6:32 remaining.

Young scored 10 points in the final 6:07 to lead that comeback.

A Benjamin 3-pointer with 22 seconds left pulled the Panthers to within two, 59-57. After trading free throws at both ends, Deonta Vaughn made one of two free throws with 15.1 seconds left for a 62-59 lead.

Cincinnati pressed and forced the Panthers to work to get the ball past half court.

After three handoffs around the perimeter, Benjamin was forced into taking the shot that Rashad Bishop blocked. Benjamin caught his blocked shot, but his off-balance desperation shot did not come close.

"We were outhustled, outrebounded, and we didn't perform well on offense," Benjamin said.

"It happens from time to time when you play so well and everyone starts scoring. Everyone gets confident, and you forget what got you there."

Pitt had to play almost half the game without freshman center DeJuan Blair, who was in foul trouble from the beginning. He picked up two early fouls, then picked up his third a minute into the second half.

Blair finished with four points, three rebounds and two turnovers in by far his worst game of the season. Cincinnati took advantage and went inside to its post players to gain control of the game.

The Bearcats got to the line 27 times and made 20 free throws, twice as many as Pitt.

"We wanted to go right at DeJuan Blair right from the beginning out of respect for how good a player he is," Cincinnati coach Mick Cronin said.

"Our last game, we shot too many 3s. We did a much better job with our shot selection this game.

"Consequently, we got to the foul line and created."

Cincinnati shot 55.6 percent (10 for 18) from the field in the second half and made 15 free throws in the final 20 minutes.

Pitt made just 10 of 25 shots after halftime. Young accounted for five of those field goals. The rest of the team was 5 for 15.

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NOTES -- Benjamin had to play the second half with his right (shooting) hand wrapped because of a laceration he suffered in the first half. He missed the final 6:07 of the first half getting stitched up in the locker room. ... Senior guard Ronald Ramon was 2 for 8 from the field and 0 for 4 from 3-point range. ... Pitt was 3 for 17 from 3-point range as a team. Benjamin made all three of Pitt's shots from behind the arc. ... Cincinnati had the rebounding edge, 32-31.