Dayton, OH -- (Sports Network) - DeJuan Blair posted 27 points and 16 rebounds as No. 1 seed Pitt held off a challenge from East Tennessee State, 72-62, in East Region first-round action at the NCAA Tournament.

Sam Young posted a double-double with 14 points and 13 boards for the Panthers (29-4), who advance to face Oklahoma State in the second round on Sunday.

"Basketball is an up-and-down game, especially if you got good shooters and good play-makers on the team," said Blair. "I don't think our defense was up to par where we wanted to be."

Ashton Gibbs added 10 points for Pittsburgh, which used a late-game surge to avoid being the first top-seeded school in tourney history to lose to one seeded 16th.

Pitt committed 13 first-half turnovers and totaled 18 for the contest, while ETSU gave up the ball nine times.

"We turned the ball over a lot," said Young. "I think we rushed some shots, and then in the press, when we were coming down and we would take some shots, we weren't really getting a lot of offensive rebounds like we would like to. So with us not getting a lot of offensive rebounds and turning the ball over, I think that kind of sped us up a bit. We made some turnovers that were not like ourselves, I think that's what gave us the most problems."

Kevin Tiggs had 21 points for the Buccaneers (23-11), the Atlantic Sun Conference champs who had a five-game win streak snapped to end their season.

Courtney Pigram contributed 17 points, Mike Smith added eight points and eight rebounds, while Greg Hamlin posted a team-high 10 rebounds in defeat.

Pigram connected on a long three with 4:33 remaining in regulation to bring ETSU within 59-57, but Blair responded by going strong to the net and completed a three-point play with 3 1/2 to play for a 62-57 game.

Tiggs made two from the line to bring the Bucs' deficit to three, but Levance Fields converted a layup to start an 8-2 run as Pitt opened up a 70-61 advantage with under a minute to play as Gibbs made his shots from the charity stripe and Blair hit 1-of-2. Gibbs also drained a three during the spurt.

Brad Wanamaker officially sealed the victory for Pitt by sinking a pair from the line with 30 seconds remaining.

"It hurts for us to go out like this," said Pigram. "Because (if) we had a game (where we) were making shots, we would have came away with the win. The shots just weren't falling for us. We had a lot of open looks, (but) just weren't making them."

A putback lay-in from Blair gave Pitt an 11-5 lead with less than five minutes played, then six unanswered from ETSU knotted the game before a bank-shot from Smith put the Bucs up 15-13 eight minutes in.

It remained tight from there until Blair's slam made it 24-20 for Pitt, but he was called for a technical for hanging on the rim and Tiggs made both from the line for a two-point contest.

Blair hit a layup for a 26-23 Panthers edge inside a minute to go, then a potential deuce from Smith as time expired in the half was waved off since the ball was not out of his hands when the buzzer sounded.

Young's three early in the second half put Pitt ahead 33-29, and a bucket from Blair off the fast break made it a six-point bulge, then East Tennessee reeled off six in a row ending with a Pigram deuce for a 35-all deadlock.

The Panthers managed to get some separation with a 9-5 burst thereafter for a four-point edge after a triple by Blair. Later, a trey by Young pushed Pitt's advantage to 53-45 before two straight Buccaneer buckets -- a three from Tiggs and a layup from Pigram -- cut their deficit to 53-50.

Game Notes:

Pitt improved to 19-21 overall in 21 trips to the tourney and ETSU fell to 2-9 all-time...Fields, who has been bothered with a groin injury of late, finished with six points and five assists...ETSU connected on just 24.3 percent from the field in the first half and 30.7 percent (23-of-75) for the game.