Young, Blair Carry No. 20 Pitt Past Seton Hall, 84-70

The 20th-ranked Panthers kept Seton Hall winless in the Big East

Jan. 12, 2008

PITTSBURGH (AP) - Sam Young and DeJuan Blair carried Pittsburgh's offense until its backcourt finally got going early in the second half, and the 20th-ranked Panthers kept Seton Hall winless in the Big East with an 84-70 victory on Saturday.

Young scored 28 points and Blair, a freshman playing in his first conference home game, had 20 points and 14 rebounds as the Panthers (14-2, 2-1) never trailed but didn't begin pulling away until their guards started scoring and Seton Hall's Brian Laing injured his right side.

Laing had 15 points as the Pirates (10-6, 0-3) trailed 33-30 at halftime, but left the game early in the second half after getting another basket and went to the locker room. He sat out only a couple of minutes, but Pitt quickly took advantage of his absence to open its first double-digit lead at 45-35 on Young's 3-pointer from the top of the key.

Laing, averaging a team-high 19.1 points, wasn't the same after coming back, failing to score again - he ended with 17 - while having several shots blocked. At the same time, Pitt was moving its offense outside after getting no points from any of the three guards in its seven-man rotation until point guard Ronald Ramon scored with 4:12 remaining in the first half.

The Pirates, with only one starter taller than 6-foot-5, lost their 10th consecutive Big East road game since upsetting then-No. 8 Pitt at the Petersen Events Center on March 3, 2006. Pitt has won eight of the last 11 in the series, including victories each of the last two seasons.

Ramon ended with 14 points, eight assists and only two turnovers and Keith Benjamin had three 3-pointers while scoring all 12 of his points in the second half. Pitt was only 3-of-9 on 3-pointers in the first half but was 8-of-11 in the second half while opening leads of as many as 17 points.

Ramon, held to a combined nine points in his last two games, played his best game since replacing the injured Levance Fields (broken foot) after an 80-55 loss at Dayton on Dec. 29. Ramon's added offense made a difference as Benjamin, coming off a 20-point game in a 79-66 win at South Florida, was limited to nine points until making three free throws in the final 12 seconds.

Young's 28 points were a career high, topping the 24 he had against North Carolina A&T on Nov. 10. Young, a junior who has increased his scoring average from 7.2 a season ago to 18.5, made all four of his 3-point attempts.

Pitt, playing its third game in a week, is 3-1 without Fields and 3-2 without Cook. The injuries have left Pitt with only nine scholarship players and only eight who have played more than a few minutes this season.