Matt Freed, Post-Gazette St. Francis' John Gooden lands on the back of Pitt's Aaron Gray last night in the Panthers' 79-58 win at the Petersen Events Center. Gooden fouled Gray, who led all scorers with 22 points and 11 rebounds to help the Panthers improve to 4-0. Click photo for larger image.

Pitt was clinging to another precarious second-half lead. The Panthers had just surrendered seven of the final nine points of the first half to St. Francis, N.Y., and held a slim three-point lead at intermission.

But when things get a little tense, that's when Carl Krauser takes over. Just as he did against Robert Morris a week ago, Krauser sparked a second-half surge and led Pitt to a 79-58 victory last night at the Petersen Events Center.

"Our guys feed off his energy," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "His leadership ... it's one thing to talk. It's another thing to do it."

Krauser had another off-shooting night, but he made his presence felt in other areas, most notably his hustle, defense and playmaking. Krauser, who had 18 points, was the impetus for Pitt's 8-2 run at the beginning of the second half that ignited the runaway. On one play, Krauser stole the ball, had it bounce away, chased it down and, from his back, threw an over-the-head pass to Aaron Gray for a layup. Less than a minute later, Krauser made another steal, drove the lane and made an acrobatic layup that gave the Panthers a 43-34 lead with 16:33 remaining.

St. Francis never mounted a serious threat after that.

"He's our leader on and off the court," Gray said. "He's one of the main reasons Pitt is looked at as such a physical and overpowering team. We're going to get that from Carl every practice, every game."

Krauser set a career-high with six steals. On the same night he became one of the top 20 scorers in school history, all anyone wanted to talk about after the game was his defense.

"He is a much better defender than he was last year," Dixon said. "He did it a lot with his defense."

While Krauser was the spark, Gray was the constant throughout. Gray, a 7-foot junior, recorded his third double-double in four games, scoring a career-high 22 points and pulling down 11 rebounds. He was 7 for 10 from the field, 8 for 10 from the free-throw line and had four blocks.

"Aaron Gray is a monster," St. Francis coach Brian Nash said. "He's going to be a pro. Sometimes you can't match up with size like that. He is a very talented player."

One game after not being aggressive inside, the Panthers made it a point of emphasis to get the ball into Gray and power forward Levon Kendall early. Kendall scored six of his nine points in the first half, and Pitt went to the free-throw line 28 times after getting to the line just 19 times against Maine.

"We went inside. That's what we wanted to do," Dixon said. "We executed our plays very well."

St. Francis forward Christian Brown kept the Terriers in the game in the first half with 16 points, but he could only muster four after halftime, when Pitt outscored the Terriers, 44-26.

Sophomore guard Ronald Ramon was responsible for most of the defensive pressure on Brown in the second half. Brown did not have a field goal after halftime after going 5 for 7 from the field in the first half.

St. Francis was 5 for 11 from 3-point range in the first half but was 3 for 12 from beyond the arc in the second half.

"In the beginning, we were giving them open shots," Ramon said. "In the second half, the team defense was there."

Nash said Pitt's size and physicality wore on his team in the second half.

"For us to come in here and play against a Big East team, we had to play possibly our best game," Nash said. "For 20 minutes, we trusted our system. In the second half, we committed too many mental mistakes. And I give Pitt a lot of credit for forcing that. They are a physically dominant team, and they stepped it up physically in the second half. Their size and strength were a factor in the second half."

NOTES -- Krauser passed Curtis Aiken on Pitt's all-time scoring list and has 1,211 career points. He needs six more to pass Jerome Lane. ... Antonio Graves, Pitt's third-leading scorer entering the game, turned an ankle early and only played four minutes. It is the same an ankle that was injured in the preseason. ... The Panthers continued to struggle from 3-point range. They were 4 for 20 from beyond the arc and are 10 for 42 in the past two games. ... Pitt has held three of its first four opponents to less than 60 points. ... The attendance was 7,263.