KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Ashton Gibbs’ confident play may finally be catching on with the younger Pittsburgh Panthers.

It at least paid off with a clutch three-point play by freshman John Johnson with 2 seconds left that helped seal No. 17 Pittsburgh’s 61-56 win over Tennessee on Saturday in the Big East/SEC Challenge.

“We’ve got who knows how many freshmen out there, and I think (Gibbs’) confidence kind of spread to the team as the game went on, and those young guys made some good plays,” Panthers coach Jamie Dixon said.

The Volunteers (3-4) had whittled an eight-point Pittsburgh lead down to just two with 11 seconds remaining. Tennessee’s Jeronne Maymon intentionally fouled Dante Taylor, who missed the front end of a 1-and-1 free-throw opportunity.

Maymon pulled in the rebound and passed to Trae Golden, who charged down the floor only to encounter Gibbs, who smothered the ball in his hands until the referee called a jump ball, with the possession arrow favoring the Panthers (7-1).

Johnson, a freshman playing in place of injured Travon Woodall, took the ball after a timeout, hit a layup on the break as he was fouled by Skylar McBee and sank the free throw.

“We found a way. We grinded it out,” Dixon said. “We had to get stops down the stretch and that’s what we did. We had everything that could go wrong, go wrong at the end with an eight point lead and the ball.

With 54 seconds left and the eight-point lead, Gibbs was called for a flagrant foul after elbowing Golden, who was trying to foul him. Golden sank one of two foul shots.

Tennessee retained possession, and Cameron Tatum hit a layup to cut the Panthers’ lead to five.

Lamar Patterson and Dante Taylor both missed free throws for Pittsburgh, and Golden sank a 3 with 11 seconds left to cut the margin to 58-56. Taylor then missed his second foul shot, which set up Gibbs’ clutch defensive stop.

Nasir Robinson had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and Gibbs added another 16 points.