SYRACUSE, N.Y. — Put this in the scouting report on Syracuse’s Tyler Ennis: He can score, too.

Ennis, the freshman point guard who would rather pass than shoot, scored 16 points, including two driving layups and two free throws in the final 2 minutes, and the second-ranked Orange rallied past No. 22 Pittsburgh 59-54 on Saturday in a battle for first place in the ACC between the two former Big East rivals.

Syracuse (18-0, 5-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) fell behind 52-49 with 4:31 to go on two free throws by Lamar Patterson, who had rallied the Panthers from a 10-point deficit.

Ennis hit a scooping layup to give Syracuse a 53-52 lead with 1:47 left and the Orange held it to the end.

“I pretty much had to make a play,” said Ennis, who had three assists. “I think they broke down defensively. They don’t usually do that too often. I didn’t even get to the basket all the way the whole game. Luckily, I did at the end.”

Twice.

In a seesaw game, Ennis took advantage again of his driving ability after Patterson and Cameron Wright missed 3-pointers on the same possession with just over a minute to go. Encouraged by Coach Jim Boeheim to take more shots, Ennis hit a lefty layup with 30.6 seconds to go as the crowd of 30,046 shook the Carrier Dome.

“He made some of the best plays that I’ve seen in a long time,” Boeheim said.

Syracuse entered the game 2-0 against former Big East rivals, with victories over St. John’s and Villanova. The Orange made it three straight and remained one of only three unbeatens in Division I.

“That’s what it comes down to – finishing and stopping them,” said Patterson, who missed what would have been a game-tying 3 with 5 seconds left. “We win the game if we do.”

In four of the past five seasons, Syracuse has started with at least 13 consecutive wins, and twice in the last four years Pitt (16-2, 4-1) had stopped those streaks.

Pitt shot 38.3 percent (18 of 47) and Syracuse finished at 51.2 percent (21 of 41) in a very efficient game offensively. The Panthers dominated the offensive glass 16-4, outscoring the Orange 19-2 on second-chance points, but they missed chances underneath and paid for it in the end.

“We got a couple of good shots,” Pitt Coach Jamie Dixon said. “We just didn’t make them. We need to finish better around the basket. They’re good, but we felt we should have won the game.”