SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Talk about an escape act. Harry Houdini couldn't have come up with a more unlikely ending than the one that took place yesterday between Pitt and Syracuse at the Carrier Dome.

Left for dead after getting down by 11 with 3:49 remaining, Pitt pulled out a miraculous, 82-77 comeback victory against the Orange that all but officially sews up a seventh consecutive NCAA tournament berth for the Panthers.

Pitt capitalized on three Syracuse turnovers, made four of its final five shots from the field and eight consecutive free throws in the final 3:30 to outscore the Orange, 18-2.

"That was unbelievable," senior guard Keith Benjamin said.

How unlikely was the comeback? Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim has been the head coach at Syracuse for 32 years, and what he witnessed yesterday, he said, was a first.

"It's the most disappointing game I've ever been involved with," he said.

After Pitt got down, 75-64, with 3:49 remaining, Panthers coach Jamie Dixon called a timeout. Syracuse had just reeled off a 19-7 run, and the 26,632 in attendance were anticipating a celebratory ending.

"It looked like we were pulling apart," Dixon said. "We brought them in and said we're not going to quit. We may not win, but we're not going to quit. There's no quit in this team."

Freshman Gilbert Brown said the message got through loud and clear.

"Everybody believed," Brown said. "Coach called a timeout and gave us the inspiration we needed. He said they were going to take quick shots and turn the ball over, so we were going to have a chance to be in the game. Then, we got the turnovers and made it happen"

In a perfect storm of Syracuse ineptitude and some clutch Pitt shot-making, the Panthers pulled out one of the greatest comebacks in school history.

Junior point guard Levance Fields got the comeback started when he drove to the basket and was fouled with 3:30 remaining. He made both free throws to trim the Syracuse lead to 75-66.

After Syracuse's Arinze Onauku missed a layup, Brown drilled a 3-pointer with 2:48 left to make it 75-69. On the ensuing inbounds play, Ronald Ramon stole the ball and scored to make it 75-71 with 2:39 to play.

Syracuse only used 15 seconds off the shot clock before Paul Harris missed a jumper with 2:15 to go. Fields drew another foul and made both free throws to make it 75-73 with 2:03 remaining.

Harris scored on Syracuse's next possession, but Brown made another 3-pointer with 1:07 remaining to cut the lead to one, 77-76.

Brown had missed 18 consecutive 3-pointers before his two late clutch shots. He had not made a 3-pointer since a Jan. 30 game against Villanova.

"That felt great," Brown said. "When I made the first one, it was like getting a big monkey off my back."

"We have all the confidence in the world in Gilbert, even though he had missed [18] straight," junior forward Sam Young said. "We pick on him about it, but coming into the game we told him if we didn't believe in him, he wouldn't be out there. He's out there for a reason, because he makes plays. We expect him to make plays, and he came up big. He definitely came up big."

Pitt still needed some magic to complete the comeback. Jonny Flynn, who scored a game-high 28 points for Syracuse, missed a 3-pointer with 29 seconds remaining. Pitt hurried the ball down court, and Brown threw up a wild shot that caromed off the side of the backboard and went out of bounds with 19 seconds left.

That's when Young made the biggest of the big plays that saved the day for the Panthers. Harris received the inbounds pass for Syracuse and was trapped by Young and Benjamin. Instead of calling a timeout, Harris tired to advance the ball, but he fumbled it into Young's hands.

Falling out of bounds, Young blindly flipped a pass to an all-alone Benjamin underneath the basket for the go-ahead basket with 11 seconds remaining.

"Keith did a good job of not letting him go right," Young said. "When he tried to go left, I was right there, and the ball popped right into my hands. It was crazy. I couldn't even believe it myself. I turned around and the ball fell right into my lap. I saw Keith out of the corner of my eye."

Syracuse had one final chance, but Scoop Jardine's baseline jumper was off the mark. Fields grabbed the rebound was fouled. He made four consecutive free throws to secure the victory after Boeheim was called for a technical foul.

"That's probably the best comeback I've ever been involved in," Young said. "We were down 11 with three minutes on the clock. That's incredible. It shows the confidence we have in each other. Coach says to play all 40 minutes, and we did."

Young led Pitt with 19 points. Four other players scored in double figures for the Panthers, who shot 47.5 percent from the field and made 15 of 17 free throws.

Syracuse shot a whopping 58 percent from the field, but that was offset by 18 turnovers, including those three critical ones late in the game.

"I don't think we did everything right for 40 minutes, but we did for the last three minutes," Dixon said. "We seemed to do exactly what we wanted to do."