Box Score
Evan Phoenix's basket with Cats 8.6 seconds to play proved to be the game winner, as Gannon University held off the Mountain Cats, 71-70, Wednesday night in Erie.  Jake Laravie finished with a game-high 19 points, six rebounds and six assists for Pitt-Johnstown, which slipped to 13-9 overall and 8-8 in the PSAC Western Division.
 
Pitt-Johnstown took advantage of Gannon's cold 1-of-8 shooting to start to run out to an 11-4 lead on Isaac Vescovi's 3-pointer.
 
Joe Fustine's 3-pointer closed a quick 7-0 Golden Knights' run that knotted it at 11 midway through the half, but baskets by Josh Wise and Laravie five minutes later got the Mountain Cat lead back out to eight at 28-20.
 
Pitt-Johnstown then got a 3-pointer from A.J. Leahey and a pair of Laravie to push the lead into double digits at the 2:24 mark, before Gannon scored the final eight points, including baskets from Ian Gardener and Phoenix off of Mountain Cat turnovers to narrow it to 33-31 at the half.
 
After Gannon extended the run to 10-0 to tie it to begin the second half, Pitt-Johnstown responded with 11 straight points of its own, capped by Leahey's 3-pointer 15:57, to build the lead to 11 at 44-33.
 
The Golden Knights came back to outscore the Mountain Cats 22-8 over the seven minute span to regain the lead 55-52 with nine minutes left on five straight points from Fustine.
 
It stayed close the rest of the way.  Following four lead changes in the final 1:20, Clancy's bucket with 17 seconds left gave the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown, but Phoenix's basket with 8.6 seconds on the clock lifted Gannon to the one-point victory.
 
The Mountain Cats had the ball and a chance to win it with five seconds, but Leahey's 3-pointer at the buzzer would not fall.
 
Laravie's 19 points, six rebounds and six assists led four Mountain Cats who scored in double figures.  Leahey finished with 17 points, while Vescovi collected 15 points, five rebounds, and four assists, and Clancy had 13 points and six assists.
 
Leahey is currently ninth-place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,433 points, fifth on the all-time rebounding list with 652, and in fourth on the all-time 3-point field goals list with 227.
 
With is six assists, Clancy moved into ninth-place on the Mountain Cats All-Time Assists List with 337.
 
Pitt-Johnstown shot 48.3% (28-58) from the field, 10-24 from 3-point range, and 4-4 from the free-throw line.  Gannon ended the night shooting 46.8% (29-62) from the floor, 5-12 from behind the 3-point line, and 8-13 from the charity stripe.
 
Damon Miraud had 13 points and 14 rebounds, and Fustine and Phoenix each scored 12 points to lead five Golden Knights who scored in double figures and help Gannon improve to 14-6 overall and 12-4 in the PSAC West.
 
The Mountain Cats return home to host PSAC doubleheaders with the Lady Cats against Edinboro on Saturday, Indiana University (PA) on Feb. 8, and Mercyhurst on Feb. 11.