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Forced to play without its man-child, No. 4 Pitt merely turned to the Man.

Senior forward Sam Young put together one of the most prolific scoring nights by a Pitt player in the past two decades, scoring 33 points as the Panthers overcame DeJuan Blair's absence to defeat Belmont, 74-60, on Tuesday at Petersen Events Center.

Blair, who leads the Panthers in scoring (17.5) and rebounding (13.3), sat out the game due to slight inflammation in his right knee.

"We erred on the side of caution," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said.

Dixon said he learned at 6 p.m. -- an hour before tipoff -- that Blair wouldn't be available. Blair, who felt no pain and told coaches he wanted to play, underwent an MRI on Tuesday afternoon and is scheduled to have an X-ray today. By all indications, the injury is not serious (Dixon said afterward that many coaches would probably have played Blair in a similar situation).

Blair is expected to be available when Pitt meets Texas Tech on Friday in Newark, N.J. in the semifinals of the 2008 Legends Classic.

"He said that he is going to practice (Wednesday)," Dixon said.

Pitt (5-0) clearly missed Blair's inside presence. Belmont outrebounded Pitt, 44-34, including a 25-5 edge on the offensive boards. Belmont's 6-2 point guard Alex Renfroe had nine offensive rebounds. But, to its defense, Pitt only missed 17 shots all game, shooting 62.2 percent from the field.

Belmont, one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the nation last season, shot 9 for 29 (31 percent) from behind the arc.

"There are a lot of funny statistics in this game," Belmont coach Rick Byrd said.

With Blair on the bench in street clothes, Pitt still managed to lead wire-to-wire against a Belmont team that had reached the NCAA Tournament each of the past three seasons and nearly upset Duke last March.

Pitt was without its three centers -- Blair, Gary McGhee (ankle) and Tyrell Biggs (foul trouble) -- for most of the game, forcing Young to play all three frontcourt positions.

Young met the challenge. He shot 13-of-17 from the field and added a team-high seven rebounds. No Pitt player has scored more than 33 points in a game since Vonteego Cummings' 37 against Villanova on March 4, 1998.

"(In the first half), I was taking it kind of slow, and I needed to be more aggressive, and that's what I did," said Young, who went 5-for-10 from the free-throw line. "It was a lot of great looks that I had and I took advantage of."

Despite going nearly 11 minutes into the game before he attempted his first shot, Young broke his previous career high of 28 with 12:12 to play in the game. Young went 2-for- 2 from 3-point range, creating on drives to the basket.

"When he gets by you, something great happens for Pittsburgh," Byrd said. "You have to try to keep him out of the paint and he might be as good as anyone I've seen at getting there."

Levance Fields added 17 points and six assists, keeping Pitt ahead with his outside shooting in the first half.

Senior forward Matt Dotson scored 16 points, and senior guard Alex Renfroe added 12 points and 12 rebounds for Belmont (1-2).

Pitt never trailed the Atlantic Sun Conference favorite, but didn't pull away until a Young-led 16-3 run early in the second half. Young scored 12 points during the spurt, as the Panthers turned a narrow 41-37 lead into a 57-40 advantage on Biggs' layup midway through the second half. Pitt led by at least 11 points the rest of the way.

"This is a missed opportunity for us tonight," Byrd said. "Blair is so important to their team, and he would have been a dominant player against a team like ours. ... They are a legitimate Final Four contender. They are that good of a team."

While Young went most of the first half without even attempting a shot -- much less scoring -- Fields carried the Panthers' offense. The senior guard hit a trio of 3-pointers in the opening 5:13 of the game.

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