Panthers steal Pirates’ booty

Sam Young has been giving opposing coaches headaches all year. And after Saturday afternoon,… Sam Young has been giving opposing coaches headaches all year. And after Saturday afternoon, it doesn’t look like he plans on stopping.

Young scored a career-high 28 points and knocked down all four of his 3-point attempts while he and the Panthers (14-2, 2-1 Big East) fought off continuous defensive pressure and quick spurts of offense to knock off Seton Hall (10-6, 0-3), 84-70.

“He’s a matchup problem,” Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez said of Young. “He’s incredibly athletic.”

Pitt looked strong right from the tip, jumping to a 13-5 lead before allowing the Pirates to pull off runs of their own to cut the lead down to as little as one with less than two minutes remaining in the half.

Young scored 15 points on 5-for-10 shooting to lead the Panthers to a 33-30 lead at the break, while Blair added nine points and nine rebounds in the first 20 minutes.

Pitt came out firing immediately at the start of the second half, getting big 3-pointers from Young, Ronald Ramon and Keith Benjamin. But the Pirates continued to answer with their full-court press and aggressive offense to keep the game within reach.

Still, the Pirates couldn’t find enough scoring.

On Pitt’s first possession of the second half, Seton Hall’s Brian Laing, who had 15 first-half points, stole an errant pass by Ramon but hurt his hip when colliding with Young. He headed to the locker room to be checked out, returned a few minutes later but was relatively ineffective the rest of the game.

“After that, I just wasn’t able to move well,” Laing said.

Freshman center DeJuan Blair continued his act as a force down low for the Panthers, scoring 20 points and grabbing a mammoth 14 boards – his sixth double-double in Pitt’s last 10 games.

“He’s one of the best freshman big guys that I’ve ever seen,” Gonzalez said.

Benjamin, who was held scoreless in the first half, knocked down all three of his second half 3-pointers, including one with 10 minutes left in the game to bring Pitt’s lead to 10 and kill some of the Pirates’ momentum. Benjamin, still adapting to his new role as a starter, finished with 12 points and six assists.

“He’s shooting the ball really well,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. “He’s making good decisions.”

Junior forward Tyrell Biggs came off the bench and gave the Panthers some solid minutes, scoring eight points and reeling in 10 boards.

Seton Hall continued to play tough though, despite Pitt’s hot hand from outside, cutting the lead to eight with just under two minutes remaining in the game.

But Ramon knocked down a 3-pointer with just over a minute left to stretch Pitt’s lead back to 11 and deliver the knockout blow.

Ramon showed confidence and control all game and had a strong overall performance at point guard. The senior from the Bronx had 14 points and eight assists with just two turnovers while playing a game-high 38 minutes.

“He just continues to do everything we need and more,” Dixon said.

Even though they kept it somewhat close, the Pirates struggled the entire game to find any kind of rhythm shooting the ball. They knocked down just 34.8 percent of their shots from the field, and shot 5 for 23 from outside the line.

Jeremy Hazell, who averaged 11.3 points per game entering the contest, was held scoreless on 0-for-8 shooting.

Seton Hall could have used junior guard Paul Gause, who hurt his wrist last week against Connecticut and is expected to be out another two weeks.

The Panthers out-rebounded the Pirates by nine, but struggled from the foul line. Pitt shot just 17 for 30 from the stripe, while the Pirates knocked down 17 of their 21 free throws.

Still, Gonzalez said he was especially impressed with how the Panthers have continued to play at a high level despite their injury troubles.

“They’re still one of the elite teams in the league,” Gonzalez said. “Pittsburgh right now is just a cut above us.”