Pitt was hoping to use a game Monday night against Bryant as a chance to work on some things against an overmatched opponent and perhaps even get a few bench players some extra minutes.

Instead, the Panthers once again found themselves in a dogfight. The Bulldogs weren’t really interested in playing patsy and were looking to pull an upset.

If not for the second-half heroics of emerging star Jamel Artis, this game might have ended with the Bulldogs walking away with a well-earned win. But Artis wouldn’t let that happen, scoring 32 points — 22 in the second half — to lead the Panthers to a 72-67 non-conference win against the Bulldogs before a crowd of 7,749 at Petersen Events Center.

Artis just missed the Pitt record for points in a game at Petersen Events Center of 33 Sam Young set Nov. 25, 2008, against Belmont. He did tie Carl Krauser (Jan. 23, 2006) for the second-highest scoring total by a Panthers player in the building.

Artis, who also had 6 rebounds and 3 steals, made 11 of 17 shots, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range, and 7 of 10 from the free-throw line. Most of his points came courtesy of midrange jumpers inside the Bulldogs zone defense.

At one point, Artis hit eight shots in a row to keep the Panthers (15-8) in the game. He said the Panthers — who allowed Bryant (10-11) to shoot 51 percent from the floor (26 of 51) and 43 percent from the 3-point line (6 of 14) — didn’t play particularly well on defense but made enough plays down the stretch to get another win.

“The guys believe in me a lot and I got a lot of open shots,” Artis said. “They play off me in the zone so I was just taking open shots. We have to be ready to play every game. We have to go out there and fight for it every night. I thought [Monday night] our defense wasn’t very good but we found a way to win.

“This game shouldn’t have been close. Like I said, we probably underestimated them. We have to move on to Syracuse and play better on defense and offense.”

Pitt guard Josh Newkirk said Artis has been a zone killer this season because he is not only a good shooter, but also is good at finding open spots on the floor.

“He finds the open spots and gashes the zone,” Newkirk said. “He is also a mismatch for their bigs so it has been great for us. And when Jamel got the ball on the wing, it opened things up for the rest of us and got us some open looks.

“[When Artis is hot] it makes it a lot easier. The weakness of the zone is in the middle so if we can get it the ball to Jamel in the middle it just makes it easier for us guards to score.”

Pitt actually trailed, 67-66, after Bryant’s Dyami Starks made a back-door reverse layup with 2:25 to play but scored the final six points.

The Panthers didn’t take their final lead until Chris Jones hit a shot from the wing with 1:13 left. Then Jones — who made a great steal to stop a possible Bryant layup on the ensuing possession — missed the front end of a one-and-one with 51 seconds and it looked as if the Bulldogs were going to come down with the rebound.

But the ball bounced away from Bosko Kostur and rolled out of bounds, and the Panthers retained possession. They almost ran down the entire shot clock before Cameron Wright hit a shot with 15 seconds left to push the lead to 70-67.

The Bulldogs had one last chance but Dyami Starks’ 3-point attempt with three seconds to play was errant and Artis secured the rebound and finished things off with two free throws.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said the Panthers defense was not good against the Bulldogs but Artis carried them in the second half.

“[Bryant] is a dangerous team, I give them a lot of credit,” Dixon said. “We need to figure out what we are doing defensively and [Saturday against Syracuse] we won’t make the same mistakes we have made the last couple of days defensively.

“I guess with 32 points [by Artis], it is a pretty good sign. He is obviously shooting the ball really well.”

The Bulldogs were led by Dan Garvin, who scored 24 points and grabbed six rebounds.

“This wasn’t a fluke … ” Bryant coach Tim O’Shea said. “Give some credit to Bryant for coming in here and taking it to them.”

Paul Zeise: pzeise@post-gazette.com and Twitter

@paulzeise.

First Published: February 3, 2015, 2:39 a.m.
Updated: February 3, 2015, 4:27 a.m.