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Young, Pittsburgh hold down Texas Tech

Nov 29, 2008 - 5:35 AM NEWARK, New Jersey (Ticker) -- Sam Young showed Texas Tech a thing or two about scoring.

Young scored 24 points as fourth-ranked Pittsburgh continued its undefeated start with an 80-67 victory over Texas Tech in Friday's semifinals of the Legends Classic.

DeJuan Blair returned the lineup for the Panthers (6-0) after a one-game absence, scoring 15 points and adding 11 rebounds.

Blair missed Pittsburgh's 74-60 victory over Belmont on Tuesday due to swelling in his right knee. However, the sophomore forward appeared fine en route to notching his fourth double-double in five games this season.

With Blair out of the lineup against Belmont, Young took over by scoring a career-high 33 points.

Against Texas Tech, Young had some shooting issues but came up with big shots when the team needed it.

The senior forward twice knocked down a jumper after the Red Raiders closed within four points early in the second half after trailing by 10 at the break. Still, Young went 9-of-23 from the field.

"We got them off guard a little bit and they got their senses back and just attacked us," Texas Tech coach Pat Knight said.

However, Young's baskets helped Pittsburgh stem the tide until it put the game away with a 10-3 run midway through the second half, taking a 65-51 advantage with 7:21 remaining. Texas Tech got no closer than 10 points thereafter.

"He has been pretty good for us all year," Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said about Young. "We have ran a lot of stuff for him and getting him shots. He had four assists too which is nice to see. I'm happy with the eight rebounds he had and I thought he defended very well."

The Panthers advanced to face Washington State in Saturday's final.

Pittsburgh, which improved to 30-0 in games in November under Dixon, did not get much from Levance Fields, who went 1-of-9 from the field for three points. He also had four turnovers to go along with his four assists.

Trevor Cook scored 24 points on 7-of-13 from the field for Texas Tech (5-1), which shot 36 percent (23-of-64) in absorbing its first loss.

"We didn't shoot the ball well and they broke us down a few times when we tried to press or tried to trap," Knight said. "They are just good basketball players."

The Red Raiders had put up a combined 265 points in their two previous games in the Legends Classic before facing the Panthers, including a 167-115 thrashing of East Central, Oklahoma, on November 20.

Leading scorer Alan Voskuil had 17 points and four 3-pointers against the NAIA school, but found the going much tougher against Pittsburgh on Friday. The senior guard finished with nine points on 3-of-11 shooting.

"We guarded the perimeter well especially their three guards who we knew can shoot, and we made them take tough shots," Dixon said. "I thought we did some good things, especially the rebounding thing after we got outrebounded the last game."

"They are big and strong," Knight said. "We would have to almost play a perfect game to have a chance and we didn't."