It took Sam Young more than 11 minutes to score his first points in Pitt's 74-60 victory against Belmont University last night at the Petersen Events Center. But there wasn't a minute that went by after that when Young wasn't lighting up the scoreboard.

Young scored a career-high 33 points to lead No. 4 Pitt (5-0) past the Bruins in a game the Panthers had to play without sophomore center and leading scorer DeJuan Blair.

Blair had some swelling in his right knee before the game, and team doctors chose to act cautiously in keeping Pitt's 6-foot-7, 265-pound big man out of the lineup. On any other night, it might have caused some major problems for the Panthers. But on this night, Young saved the day with a spectacular performance.

Young was 13 for 17 from the field and made a variety of shots from inside and outside the 3-point arc. It was his most prolific game in a Pitt uniform and the most points by a Pitt player since Ricardo Greer had 33 in a game at Syracuse in February 2000.

"I always like to take on the challenge of taking over a game," said Young, whose previous high was 28 last season against St. John's.

The Panthers didn't have much time to adjust their game plan. Coach Jamie Dixon did not find out until one hour before tipoff that Blair could not play. Blair felt some discomfort in his knee earlier in the day and had an MRI, which revealed the swelling. But he did not have any pain, so he wanted to play.

But because Blair had three knee surgeries when he was at Schenley High School, the doctors thought it was best if he did not play.

Dixon had to juggle his lineup even more once the game started. Sophomore Gary McGhee started at center, but he sprained an ankle early in the second half and had to come out. Tyrell Biggs, the starting power forward who plays a lot of minutes at center, was in foul trouble.

That led to Young playing some center and some other odd combinations that Dixon did not envision when the game started.

"At the end there, we were on plan F, G and Z," he said. "But we found a way. We kept getting the ball to Sam in the right spot."

The game was back and forth early until Young single-handedly put some distance between the Panthers and Bruins. After the score was knotted at 23-23, Young scored nine points in a 10-3 run that staked the Panthers to their biggest lead. .

Young made 3-pointers 29 seconds apart, then stole the ball and went coast to coast to give Pitt the seven-point bulge.

"When we went to the huddle for the media timeout, we were down six on the boards, and [Dixon] told us we weren't playing too good," Young said. "I needed to be more aggressive, and that's what I did. There were a lot of great looks that I had, and I took advantage."

When Pitt opened the second half with a precarious, 37-31 lead, Young quickly broke the game open, scoring 14 points in the first 7:42 as the Panthers opened with an 18-9 run.

"If we were going to beat Pitt, we needed to make Young make 3-pointers," Belmont coach Rick Byrd said. "When he gets by you, something great happens for Pittsburgh. You have to try to keep him out of the paint. He might be about as good as anyone I've seen in getting there."

Even though Young torched the overmatched Belmont defenders and the Panthers shot 62 percent from the field, the Bruins stayed in contention by pounding the offensive glass for second chances. The Bruins outrebounded Pitt, 44-34, and took 28 more shots than the Panthers.

"I don't care who we have out there we shouldn't get outrebounded," Dixon said.

"Hopefully, we'll learn something from this. When the opposing point guard has nine offensive rebounds, it makes you scratch your head a little bit."

Byrd looked at the stat sheet afterward and lamented his team's squandered opportunity. The Bruins had 25 offensive rebounds and made nine 3-pointers to keep it close. But missed free throws and a 28.8 shooting percentage made an upset bid out of the question.

NOTES -- Blair will have an X-ray on his knee today, but he told Dixon after the game that he planned on practicing with the team today. ... Sophomore guard/forward Gilbert Brown played for the first time this season after missing the first four games with a stress fracture in his left foot. He scored two points in 15 minutes. ... Senior point guard Levance Fields had 17 points and made four of his five 3-point attempts. ... Belmont's bench outscored Pitt's bench, 20-6.