Pitt took care of business in its first exhibition game against Division II Pitt-Johnstown last night at the Petersen Center. Pitt-Johnstown as a whole did not provide much competition in the 97-56 runaway, but one player showed the Panthers where they need to improve the most.

Pitt-Johnstown center Chris Gilliam scored a game-high 23 points against Pitt's young and inexperienced frontcourt players. Gilliam, a 6-foot-7 senior, went head-to-head against Pitt freshman DeJuan Blair and junior-college transfer Cassin Diggs, and got the better of them on the offensive end.

"We've got a lot of [work] to do because he torched us," said Blair, the former Schenley High School star who got the start at center. "He was moving, and we weren't moving that great. We can do a whole lot better. A Division II school [player] put 23 on us. We have to work extra hard on our post defense. But it's only the first game. It will get better as the season goes on."

Gilliam, who made second team in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference last season, was shocked he was able to score the way he did. He was 11 for 19 from the field.

"I never thought I'd do that against a Big East team," he said.

Pitt coach Jamie Dixon did not seem overly concerned about his post defense. He correctly pointed out that Gilliam had five points at halftime and, by then, the game was well in Pitt's favor. But he acknowledged that the post defense is a work in progress.

With the 6-7 Blair in the starting lineup, the Panthers will be smaller than most teams. Blair played well offensively, however, going 4 for 5 from the field and scoring 10 points with seven rebounds. The 6-10 Diggs scored five points and had two rebounds in 12 minutes. Freshman center Gary McGhee, also 6-10, had four points and five rebounds in seven minutes.

All were playing their first game as Division I players.

"[Gilliam] is a good player, and we gave him a lot of angles to the basket," Dixon said. "We could have done some things better. We need to improve in a lot of areas. We had four new guys in there. If you look for a guy enough and get him 19 shots, he's going to score."

Dixon has not settled on a starting five for the season opener next Friday, but Blair got the start at center alongside power forward Sam Young, small forward Mike Cook and guards Ronald Ramon and Levance Fields last night. Junior Tyrell Biggs was the first reserve off the bench for Young at power forward. Diggs was the second substitute followed by senior guard Keith Benjamin (for Ramon), freshman Gilbert Brown (for Cook) and freshman guard Bradley Wanamaker (for Fields).

Pitt-Johnstown kept it close for the first 10 minutes, but the Panthers pulled away late in the half, outscoring Pitt-Johnstown, 23-0, the final 7:32 for a 49-15 halftime lead.

Young led the way for Pitt with 17 points and nine rebounds. Cook and Fields had 13 points apiece.

"We had fun," Fields said. "It was good for us. When you play against one another like we did for 16 practices, it gets kind of boring."

Pitt plays its second and final exhibition game Sunday against IUP. The Panthers open the regular season Nov. 9 against Houston Baptist.