Fresh off a Sweet 16 appearance, Pitt coach Jamie Dixon has offered a scholarship to another highly touted guard from New York.

Ricky Torres, a 6-foot-4 junior shooting guard from St. Raymond's High School, received word yesterday that Dixon would like for him to become a Panther.

Torres is coached by Oliver Antigua, who played with the Panthers as a walk-on from 1995-98 and is the brother of Orlando Antigua, Pitt's director of basketball operations.

"It's early in the process," Oliver Antigua said. "It's something that will go into the summer. Pitt's showing a lot of interest right now."

Antigua described Torres as a "top 100 player and on the rise." Pitt is the first school to offer a scholarship, but Connecticut and North Carolina State are showing interest, among other schools from the Big East and Atlantic Coast Conference

Pitt has two more scholarships to give for the class of 2005. Mike Davis, a junior center from Xavierian High School in Brooklyn, N.Y., gave the Panthers a verbal commitment in November. The earliest Torres could sign a letter-of-intent is November.

Torres, who made 47 percent of his 3-point attempts last season, averaged 12 points per game for St. Raymond's, which won the New York City Class AA championship and lost to Mount Vernon in the Class AA state semifinals. Pitt recruit Keith Benjamin scored 23 points in the Mount Vernon victory.

Pitt already has New York products Carl Krauser, Chris Taft, Mark McCarroll and Dante Milligan on the roster. In addition to Benjamin, Ronald Ramon and John DeGroat, also New York natives, will join the Panthers in the fall.

Dixon hits the recruiting trail today in search of other prospects for the '05 class.