Following Pitt’s Monday exhibition against Pitt-Johnstown, the Panthers, from here on, will play games that count in the win-loss column.

After dispatching Providence on Oct. 19, Pitt hosted the Mountain Cats and put together a rout, winning their second and final preseason contest 100-65.

But what ended as a blowout at Petersen Events Center began sluggishly, as Pitt trailed by as much as nine early, was porous defensively and led by just five at halftime over their Division II foe, which competes in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference.

In the aftermath of Pitt’s final preseason tune-up before the Nov. 3 opener vs. Youngstown State, coach Jeff Capel’s recent remark that his Panthers remain a work in progress still rings true.

“I thought we disrespected us because we didn’t show up with the same intensity, the same attention to detail that we had last week when we played Providence,” Capel said. “ … (But) this was good for us. This was a great learning experience for us. Obviously, we know, starting (Nov.) 3, the competition gets better and better.”

Pitt-Johnstown found many holes in the Panthers’ defense to start, particularly Will Kromka, who scored all 20 of his points in the first half.

But Pitt got its act together and, by the time five minutes had elapsed in the second half, was up 20.

Cameron Corhen led the Panthers with 21 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Nojus Indrusaitis added 18, and Omari Witherspoon (13), Roman Siulepa (11) and Brandin Cummings (10) scored in double digits.

Capel made one switch to the starting lineup Monday vs. the five men he began with against Providence: Witherspoon in place of Barry Dunning.

Witherspoon joined Cummings and Damarco Minor plus Corhen and Siulepa as Capel’s latest starters.

Pitt made far more than it missed Monday, as the Panthers hit 39 of 57 (68.4%) shots, including 7 of 15 (46.7%) from 3-point range.

Pitt-Johnstown went 27 of 59 (45.8%) from the floor.

“I want to give kudos to them for how well they played and for pushing us,” Capel said. “ … We’ll grow from this. We’ll use every situation, everything that we go through to help us get better. We’re excited about the journey we’re about to embark on where they all become real now.”

The Mountain Cats crafted a 17-10 lead less than eight minutes into the game, as Kromka made his presence known and the Panthers committed several turnovers.

Kromka then drilled a 3-pointer, giving Pitt-Johnstown a 20-12 lead at the under-12 media timeout.

After Kromka hit another long ball, making it 23-14 Mountain Cats, Pitt started to wake up, clawing back into the game with two 3-pointers from Witherspoon, a fast-break dunk from Dunning and an easy layup following a steal by Macari Moore.

With 8:35 left in the first half, Moore headed to the free-throw line to shoot two, sinking both and putting Pitt back in front 26-25.

Siulepa hit Pitt’s next basket to hand his team a 28-25 advantage, as the Panthers came alive via an eventual 20-5 run over about five-and-a-half minutes.

With 7:27 to play before halftime, Indrusaitis hit a basket from downtown, extending the Panthers’ lead to a game-high six points, 31-25.

About two minutes later, Pitt had increased its lead to nine, but the Mountain Cats narrowed the gap, making it a 36-33 ballgame at the 3:35 mark thanks to a jumper from Baden Forup.

With 2:55 to go in the half, Kromka struck again from deep, as Pitt’s lead was trimmed to 37-36.

From there, Corhen hit a pair of free throws, and Indrusaitis and Moore made back-to-back 3-pointers to create another nine-point lead.

The final basket of the first half, a 3-pointer by Nick Watts, went to Pitt-Johnstown, as the Panthers headed to their locker room with a 47-42 advantage.

Two minutes into the second half, Pitt’s lead was back to 10.

“What I told (players) at halftime is that we have been really good in practice, and we were really good against Providence,” Capel said. “We were not in the first half of (this) game.”

With 17:20 to play, the Panthers were ahead 58-44 thanks to consecutive layups from Cummings and Minor.

At the under-12 media timeout of the final half, Pitt was in front 75-52.

With 7:52 to go, a pair of Corhen free throws gave Pitt its largest lead of the night at 83-58.

Pitt went up by 30 for the first time with 5:16 to go and hit cruise control from there, holding the Mountain Cats to five points for the remainder of the game.

“I feel like we’ve got a lot to improve on, which is the exciting part about this team,” Indrusaitis said. “I’m excited to take it day-by-day and keep getting better.”

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