If Pitt junior Sam Young had a trading card, the picture on the front would be of one of his high-flying, acrobatic dunks. After all, Young is best known for his athletic ability and off-the-charts vertical leap.

In an 88-61 victory against North Carolina A&T yesterday at Petersen Events Center, Young, a junior forward, showed off another part of his game, stunning the Aggies with his outside shooting. He paced the No. 22 Panthers (2-0) with a career-high 24 points and added 11 rebounds for his third career double-double.

Young was 10 for 14 from the field and 4 for 6 from 3-point range. The most 3-pointers Young made in a game before yesterday was two. He made 13 3-pointers all of last season.

"They were leaving me open in transition," Young said. "They seemed to lose track. The big man would go down to the block instead of meeting me up top. I took advantage of it basically."

Young said he worked feverishly on his 3-point shooting in the offseason. He shot 31 percent from 3-point range last season and has the goal of shooting 38 or 39 percent this season.

"He's improved dramatically," Pitt coach Jamie Dixon said. "But he works hard at it. That's half the battle. He takes good shots. Someone is finding him, and it starts with that. They weren't contested 3s he took, they were all wide open. We were finding the open man."

Outside shooting is what broke the game open for Pitt. North Carolina A&T coach Jerry Eaves wanted to force the Panthers into shooting outside shots and packed it down against Pitt's frontcourt to make it happen.

After a slow start, Pitt heated up from behind the arc and blew open the game with 3-pointers. The Panthers trailed, 12-8, but stormed back with a 36-11 run to lead, 44-23, at the intermission. The Panthers made seven 3-pointers in that span, including three from Young and two more from senior Ronald Ramon, who finished 4 of 5 from beyond the arc for 12 points.

"[Friday] they were 1 for 15 [from 3-point range] in the first half," Eaves said. "I knew Ramon could hit the shots. When Young hit the one at the end of the first half it did surprise me a little bit, but they were able to shoot them in a rhythm. Our philosophy is we'd rather have someone shooting the 3 than beating us in the paint. And they still beat us up on the boards. We gave up 14 offensive rebounds, which was the key to the game. We could have turned them over and done a few things, but when they started to hit the 3-point shots and steal layups, that was pretty much the game."

Pitt was 12 for 27 from 3-point range for the game, a marked improvement over the 29-percent effort the Panthers had in their opener Friday night against Houston Baptist. Mike Cook (13) and DeJuan Blair (10) also scored in double figures. Blair got his 10 points in 15 minutes of action. He picked up two fouls in the first four minutes of the first half and sat on the bench until halftime. Pitt still outrebounded North Carolina A&T, 38-28.

The Aggies did give the Panthers some trouble in other areas. Their full-court press forced 14 turnovers and got the Panthers out of rhythm, especially early in the contest.

But after five minutes of watching his team's listless play, Young took the team on his shoulders. He scored 17 of his 24 points in the first half, including 15 in Pitt's decisive run to end the half.

"They came out hungry," Young said of the Aggies. "They were ready to play. They tried to get a little physical with us and even started trash-talking. After the first media timeout, we said, 'Let's go, let's get them out of there, let's show them that they're not supposed to be on the floor with us.' And that's what we did."

North Carolina A&T is favored to win the Mideastern Athletic Conference, but once Pitt got settled in the Aggies had trouble scoring. They went more than six minutes without scoring late in the first half when the Panthers pulled away.

"It was a good win for us against a team that will probably be in the NCAA tournament," Dixon said. "They have six returning seniors and were picked to win their league in every publication we've seen."

Pitt plays St. Louis (2-0) at 6 p.m. today. The Billikens defeated Houston Baptist, , 91-56, in the second game of the day as part of the Hispanic College Fund Challenge.

NOTES -- Young also had a career-high four steals. The Panthers have 23 steals in two games. ... Freshman center Gary McGhee played four minutes. He can play in up to six games through December and still be eligible for a redshirt. ... Blair was 4 for 4 from the field and improved his shooting percentage to .867 (13 for 15) for the season.