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Blair helps Pittsburgh pummel Georgetown

Jan 3, 2009 - 9:27 PM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- DeJuan Blair and Pittsburgh made a major statement to the rest of the Big East.

Blair collected 20 points and 17 rebounds as the third-ranked Panthers took control in the second half en route to an impressive 70-54 victory over eighth-ranked Georgetown on Saturday.

Entering as one of five unbeatens in the nation, the Panthers (14-0, 2-0 Big East) were dominant at times in putting an emphatic end to the Hoyas' 29-game home winning streak while establishing themselves as the early favorite in the loaded Big East.

The bulky 6-7, 265-pound Blair was a force the entire afternoon as he owned the paint and helped the Panthers to a lopsided 42-16 rebounding advantage.

"They were saying, 'Who did Pitt play?"' Blair said. "We came into Georgetown and showed them what we can do. They can't say nothing now."

Tyrell Biggs and Sam Young each added 14 points and Levance Fields added eight assists for Pittsburgh, which never trailed and is off to its best start since going 15-0 in 2005-06.

Tied at 40-40, the Panthers used a 26-7 run to seize control of the contest.

Young converted consecutive layups to trigger the burst, which Biggs capped with a reverse layup with 3:39 remaining that gave the Panthers a commanding 66-47 lead. Blair also had two baskets and a pair of nifty assists in the surge.

"We joked with him (Blair) the last couple of days that he was going to be well-rested," Pittsburgh coach Jamie Dixon said. "He had a lot of legs, and he was ready to go."

DaJuan Summers scored 16 of his 22 points in the first half for the Hoyas (10-1, 1-1), who were coming off Monday's 74-63 victory at No. 2 Connecticut.

Georgetown has another test on Monday when its visits 10th-ranked Notre Dame, which boasts a 43-game home-court winning streak, on Monday.

"We have no turnaround," Hoyas coach John Thompson III said. "We leave tomorrow morning for South Bend. You can't dwell on that too long. We're a very good team, but we just had a very difficult stretch from that 14-minute mark where they did a good job of executing and we didn't."

Summers single-handedly kept the Hoyas in the game in the first half, when he made 6-of-9 shots and all three of his attempts from 3-point range. The rest of his teammates were just 3-of-17 from the floor as the Panthers held a 33-30 lead at the break.

Freshman Greg Monroe added 15 points for Georgetown.