Young's 22 leads Pitt past Syracuse 78-60

[January 20, 2009]  PITTSBURGH (AP) -- Sam Young pulled out of a three-game slump by scoring 19 of his 22 points in the second half and No. 4 Pittsburgh came back from its first loss of the season, surging shortly after halftime to defeat No. 8 Syracuse 78-60 on Monday night.

DeJuan Blair, also coming off a poor game during a 69-63 loss at No. 9 Louisville on Saturday night that ended Pitt's two-week stay at No. 1, was strong inside with 20 points and 12 rebounds. Blair's toughness keyed a rugged and sometimes intimidating defense that held the Orange nearly 22 points below their scoring average.

Several Syracuse players were seen complaining to the officials that Pitt (17-1, 5-1) was being too physical, and the Orange (17-3, 5-2) drew two technical fouls less than three minutes apart during the first half.

Young, Pitt's leading scorer with an 18.7 average, made seven of 12 shots after going only 15-of-49 in his previous three games.

Andy Rautins hit five 3-pointers while scoring 17, but Orange leading scorer Jonny Flynn made three of 14 shots while being held to 12 points, four below his average.

Pitt began pulling away by scoring nine consecutive points, finished off by Young's layup off Jermaine Dixon's pass, to make it 42-35 with 15:21 remaining. The Panthers stretched the lead to 53-40 on Levance Fields' drive, and Syracuse got no closer than seven after that.

Pittsburgh also went on a 9-0 run midway through the first half to take a 20-11 lead. The advantage would have been bigger if the Panthers had made some free throws -- they missed six of their first seven, including all four by point guard Fields following the technicals. Fields had 15 points and six assists, and Pitt ended up 9-of-17 at the line.

The Orange answered with a 9-0 run of their own, finished off by Rautins' 3-pointer that gave them their first lead at 28-27.

Blair came back to make two free throws, drawing loud cheers from an announced crowd of 12,508 that looked to be even larger, and Pitt trailed only once after that. For one of the few times since the Petersen Events Center opened in 2002, the ticket demand was so great that Pitt was forced to turn away students.

The crowd gave some of its biggest cheers to the three Steelers players spotted in the crowd -- Ben Roethlisberger, Jeff Reed and Santonio Holmes, with Reed pointing proudly to his AFC championship T-shirt.

Syracuse, blanketed by Pitt's defense, couldn't come up with another run in the second half that would have tightened the game. The Orange came in averaging 81.5 points, but shot 41.8 percent (23-of-55) to Pitt's 53.3 percent (32-of-60).

Pitt was especially effective against Flynn, who scored 28 points as Pitt rallied to win 82-77 win at Syracuse last season after trailing by 11 with 3:49 remaining.

Pitt improved to 2-1 against ranked opponents, with its other win against Georgetown and the loss to Louisville. Pitt has won its last three at home and six of eight overall from Syracuse, which five years ago became the first visiting team to win at the Petersen Center.

[Associated Press; By ALAN ROBINSON]

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