Panthers blast Toledo, Blair, Young lead way

For the first time in his young Pitt career, DeJuan Blair wasn’t in the starting lineup. … For the first time in his young Pitt career, DeJuan Blair wasn’t in the starting lineup.

The freshman center spent his morning at his great grandfather’s burial and showed up minutes before No. 14 Pitt’s 78-52 win over Toledo on Saturday.

“I played for him,” Blair said. “I dedicated this game for him.”

Blair didn’t make it to the game in time to participate in warm-ups with the team, but he still scored 11 points to go with his 11 rebounds.

“I’m glad he was there for his family,” Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said of Blair. “It was important that he was there.”

Blair was on the bench for a little under five minutes before seeing his first action of the game. As he checked in, he was greeted with a large ovation from the fans.

“It was good to see everybody get up and clap,” Blair said. “That made me feel a bit more comfortable.”

Also recording a double-double for the Panthers (7-0) was Sam Young. The junior forward finished the game with 17 points and 12 rebounds for his third double-double of the year.

Junior Tyrell Biggs, who had a season-high 11 rebounds, started in Blair’s place at center.

“I know I’ve got to step it up on defense and hit the boards,” Biggs said.

As a team, the Panthers out-rebounded the Rockets, 51-28, including 23 offensive rebounds for Pitt.

“I thought our defense was solid,” Toledo coach Stan Joplin said. “We got them to miss, but second chance points really hurt us.”

Pitt had little chance to rebound off Toledo (1-6) misses early in the game.

The Rockets hit four 3-pointers to jump out to a 12-4 lead within the game’s opening minutes.

A dunk by Jerrah Young gave the Rockets a 17-10 lead with 11:37 left in the first half.

The Panthers cut the lead to three after Gilbert Brown hit a jumper to make the score 17-14, but Toledo rallied to bring its lead back up seven at 21-14.

“We came out a little sluggish and they came out ready to play a ranked team and make a name for themselves,” Young said.

After a tip-in by Biggs off a Young miss made the score 23-20 Toledo, Mike Cook scored six consecutive points to give Pitt the lead.

The senior hit a 3-pointer to tie the game then was fouled as he made a layup and hit the free throw.

With a minute to go in the half, Young hit a jumper to break a 28-28 tie. Off a missed 3-pointer by Brown, Ronald Ramon retrieved the offensive rebound and fed Blair in the post, who used a nice spin move to get by his defender and make a layup.

Toledo’s Tyrone Kent, who led all scorers with 22 points, missed a 3-pointer with six seconds to go in the half, Fields rebounded the ball and from beyond the half-court line, tossed an alley-oop to Young, who was fouled in mid-air, causing him to miss the shot.

Young hit both free throws and the Panthers took a 34-28 lead into halftime.

“It wasn’t a lack of energy,” Dixon said about the team’s first half. “We forced some things, and that’s usually because of too much energy.”

Pitt finished the game with 21 assists and only seven turnovers, with Fields leading the team with nine assists to just one turnover.

“It wasn’t a perfect game for us,” Dixon said, “but when I look at the numbers, we got all the goals that we wanted to get.”