Pitt players confessed they didn’t know much about their opponent in the season opener, other than that St. Francis (Pa.) was a member of the Northeast Conference. That almost always assured the Panthers of a victory, as they had only lost once in 44 previous games against NEC teams.

So imagine Pitt’s surprise after a sluggish start when the Red Flash built a 13-point halftime lead and ran away with an 80-70 victory over Pitt in the season opener Wednesday night at Petersen Events Center.

“They were very, very ready to play. They were really good. They controlled the game from the beginning,” Pitt coach Jeff Capel said of St. Francis. “Disappointing for us. Very, very disappointing for us. Especially to start the game, we didn’t have the energy that’s required for us to have a good team. I’m not really sure why. It took us a half to get that energy.”

Pitt’s lone defeat against the NEC was a 59-54 loss to Wagner on Nov. 29, 1995. It was the first-ever win against Pitt for St. Francis, which had lost the previous 29 meetings, including three season openers. And Pitt had been 15-0 in season openers at the Pete, winning by an average margin of 21.3 points.

Yet three minutes into the second half, Pitt trailed 55-35.

The Red Flash had five players score in double figures, led by senior guard Ramiir Dixon-Conover’s game-high 21 points, and shot 43% from the field (27 of 63). They sank nine 3-pointers and scored 27 points off PItt’s 23 turnovers.

It was an ominous start for the Panthers (0-1), given that St. Francis was picked to finish sixth in an NEC preseason poll after losing their top two scorers in NEC player of the year Keith Braxton and Isaiah Blackmon from a 22-win team. The Panthers returned three starters in juniors Au’Diese Toney and Xavier Johnson and sophomore Justin Champagnie, added a scorer in transfer Ithiel Horton and a freshmen class with five recruits, including top-100 forward John Hugley.

After Toney, who led Pitt with 20 points, scored the first points of the season, the Red Flash responded with a 10-0 run. Pitt cut it to 17-12 when freshman Femi Odukale fed Champagnie for a dunk, but St. Francis soon extended its lead to double digits.

Bryce Laskey followed Hugley’s three-point play with a 3 to extend it to 32-22. A 6-foot-4 sophomore guard from Laurel Highlands, Laskey made three 3-pointers in the first half, including one at 3:02 to give the Red Flash a 41-28 lead.

“They smacked us right in the mouth,” Capel said, “and we panicked in that moment.”

While St. Francis made 17 of 34 shots from the field in the first half, shooting 43% from 3 (6 of 14), the Panthers were content to shoot from the perimeter against the Red Flash zone defense. Pitt shot 35% from the field (13 of 37), making only 4 of 18 from beyond the arc.

If not for Toney’s 15 first-half points, the Panthers would have been in a bigger hole. The 6-6 junior swingman made 6 of 7 shots, including three 3s, and grabbed five offensive rebounds.

That performance came despite foul trouble, as both Toney and Johnson drew two personal fouls by the 12:14 mark in the first half. Capel went deep into his bench in the first half, playing 10 Panthers and four of his five freshman newcomers. The Red Flash extended their lead to 17 points in the second half, going up 52-35 on back-to-back 3s. Capel called a timeout, only for Maxwell Land to hit another trey to give St. Francis a 20-point lead.

The Panthers got back into the game with defense, forcing three St. Francis shot-clock violations in a span of 1:53. Pitt cut its deficit to 63-52 on a Terrell Brown three-point play at 7:48, but St. Francis answered with an 8-2 run.

Pitt trimmed it to 10 when Johnson made the front end of a two-shot foul to make it 72-62 with 1:49 left, but he blew a chance to get it down to single digits by missing the second shot. Johnson finished with nine points and 10 assists but missed all five 3-point attempts and had seven turnovers.

Dixon-Conover made two free throws for a 74-62 lead. By the time Abdoul Karim Coulibaly grabbed an offensive rebound for a dunk to cut it to 75-66, only 39 seconds remained and the Panthers couldn’t get any closer.

Capel believes that Pitt pushing the panic button only emboldened St. Francis.

“When you’re playing against a team that’s won, like they have … they can see that and they prey off of that,” Capel said. “So we have a lot of work to do. … I don’t think it’s an easy fix. We’re not as good as we thought we were.”

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