Senior Cameron Corhen scored 23 points and sophomore guard Brandin Cummings had 18 points to lead host Pittsburgh to a 74-59 win over Youngstown State Monday in the opener for both schools.

Cris Carroll had 18 for the Penguins and Jason Nelson added 15 for the Horizon League squad.

Nojus Indrusaitis also had 13 for the Panthers, including hitting three of his five three-point attempts.

After a cold first half, the Panthers finished hitting 43.4% from the field (25-of-53).

The Panthers struggled to pull away from the Penguins until late in the game.

Pittsburgh was finally able to secure a double-digit lead with 4:38 to go on a dunk by Papa Amadou for a 68-57 lead.

Corhen extended the lead to 13 with a dunk of his own with 3:02 left.

The forward made it 72-57 with a pair of free throws with 2:16 left.

He dunked again with 1:24 to go and the Panthers finally had plenty of breathing room at 74-57.

Corhen, the only returning starter for the Panthers, hit 8 of 11 shots from the field and led the Panthers with 12 rebounds.

After trailing for most of the first half, the Panthers were able to pull ahead in the last three minutes to hold a 34-28 lead at the break.

Trailing 28-27, Corhen hit a three-pointer with 3:09 to go.

DeMarco Minor scored all four of his first-half points in the final minute with a pair of free throws and then a jumper with 30 seconds left for the six-point lead.

Corhen finished the half with 13 points on 5-of-6 shooting and six rebounds.

Cummings also had eight points for the Panthers.

The Penguins jumped out to a 14-6 lead early as Carroll scored eight points of 3-of-4 shooting. Carroll was held scoreless the rest of the half, however.

It was a sloppy first half in the opener for both teams as the Panthers had nine turnovers and the Penguins had seven.

The Panthers shot 35.6% from the floor (11-of-31) and the Penguins hit 42.3% from the field (11-of-26).

-Field Level Media