Ashton Gibbs scored 16 of his game-high 22 points in the first half as No. 5 Pittsburgh held on for a 72-57 victory over No. 19 Georgetown on Wednesday night.

Gibbs was the difference in the first half, hitting four 3-pointers as the Panthers (16-1, 4-0 Big East) built a 41-24 lead at the break. Georgetown closed the gap to single digits midway through the second half but couldn't complete the comeback as Pittsburgh won its sixth consecutive game.

Gibbs, the Panthers' leading scorer, finished with five of the team's six 3-pointers.

Brad Wanamaker had 14 points, Gilbert Brown added 12 and Gary McGhee chipped in with eight points and 10 rebounds in the victory.

Chris Wright led the way with 14 points for the Hoyas (12-5, 1-4 Big East), who are off to their worst conference start in seven years. Georgetown came into the game shooting just 25.7 percent in its four conference games and didn't do much better Wednesday, shooting 37.3 percent from the floor en route to its third straight defeat.

Julian Vaughn had 13 points for Georgetown while team scoring leader Austin Freeman added 12 on 5-for-14 shooting.