Box Score
Slippery Rock broke open a halftime tie with a 21-10 run to start the second half on its way to dealing the Mountain Cats 66-56 PSAC West loss, Saturday evening in the Sports Center.Â
Bill Luther's game-high 22 points and 10 rebounds paced Pitt-Johnstown, now 5-3 overall and 2-2 in conference-play.
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An Erik Raleigh jumper gave The Rock a 14-9 lead 7:30 into the game, before Pitt-Johnstown answered with a 14-3 run to open-up a six-point advantage.
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Matt Palo's lay-up and free-throw 1:30 later gave the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown. Then,
Jake Laravie knocked down a 3-pointer and five of Luther's 12 first half points closed the run to put the Mountain Cats in front 23-17 with 4:04 left in the half.
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Slippery Rock came right back to cut it to one on Raleigh's free-throw, but Laravie connected on two of his own from the charity stripe with two second remaining to knot it at 29 at the break.
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The Rock came out in the second half and outscored Pitt-Johnstown 21-10 over the first eight minutes to break the halftime tie and build a 50-39 lead on four straight points from Sa'Quan Davis.
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A Palo lay-up, followed by a free-throw from Luther closed a 7-0 Pitt-Johnstown spurt that narrowed it to 50-46 with 8:35 to play, but The Rock answered with seven straight point of their own to extend it back out to 11 two minutes later.
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The Rock pushed it out to as many as 12 with 2:44 on the clock, before going on to the 10-point victory.
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Along with Luther's 22 points and 10 rebounds, Pitt-Johnstown also got 11 points, including a perfect 8-8 from the free-throw line, and seven rebounds from Laravie. Palo had seven points, while
Andrew Cressler chipped in five points and six rebounds, and
Ian Vescovi grabbed eight rebounds.
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Luther, who needs 33 points to become Pitt-Johnstown's 25
th 1,000-point scorer, also ranks third on the Mountain Cat All-Time 3-point Field Goals List with 209.
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The Mountain Cats struggled shooting the ball Pitt-Johnstown shot just 29.6% (16-64) from the floor and 7-22 from 3-point range. The Mountain Cats were also 17-21 from the free-throw line. Slippery ended the night shooting 41.8% (23-55) from the field, 8-20 from behind the 3-point line, and 12-20 from the charity stripe.
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Tabari led The Rock with 19 points and a game-high 13 rebounds. Davis had 12 points, and Kelvin Dixon tallied 11 points for Slippery Rock, which improved to 7-2 overall and 3-1 in the PSAC West.
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The Mountain Cats will break for finals, before hosting doubleheaders with the Lady Cats against Shippensburg on December 17 and Kutztown on December 18. The Lady Cats will tip-off both doubleheaders at 5:30 p.m. in the Sports Center.
