NEW YORK -- Pittsburgh took advantage of another long scoring drought by Boston College on Thursday and defeated the Eagles 76-62 in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.

Next for the Panthers is a Friday night semifinal date against the winner of the game between Georgetown and Miami.

BC, which defeated Pitt for the tournament title a year ago, started quickly as if to erase Wednesday's memory of its 15 percent shooting half against Rutgers -- the worst in tournament history. The Eagles (20-11) had six field goals in just over six minutes, one more than they managed in the first half of their tournament opener.

BC was sitting on a 20-15 lead when suddenly, the Eagles couldn't find the basket again. Pitt went on a 21-4 surge over the final six minutes of the half to take a 36-24 halftime lead.

The Eagles had recovered from an 11-point deficit against Rutgers but could not duplicate that effort against Pitt (26-4), which reached the Big East semifinals for the fifth time and outrebounded BC 40-23.

Pitt's lead grew to 21 points as Donatas Zavackas scored 16 points and Chevon Troutman added 15. BC's Uka Agbai led all scorers with 25.