Men's Basketball 4/8/2013 12:16:00 AM

Mountain Cats Stumble, 88-73 at Fairmont State

Mountain Cats Stumble, 88-73 at Fairmont State
     02/11/13... (Box Score) Andrew Cressler (Pittsburgh, Pa.) had a career-high 27 points and nine rebounds, but Fairmont State (WV) University turned a 13-point first half deficit into a 22-point second half lead, en route to handing the Mountain Cats an 88-73 conference road loss on Monday. Pitt-Johnstown fell to 14-9 overall and 10-9 in the WVIAC.
     Nine early points from Cressler and a Nick Novak (Murrysville, Pa.) 3-pointer helped the Mountain Cats run out to a 19-10 lead eight minutes into the game.
     Fairmont State cut it to 19-14, but back-to-back 3-pointers from Novak and Jordan Miller (Vinco, Pa.) closed an 8-0 run to put Pitt-Johnstown in front 27-14 three minutes later.
     However, the Falcons stormed back to outscore the Mountain Cats 24-11 over the final 8:50 to knot it at the break.
     After Fairmont State cut it to four, two more of Cressler's 14 first half points rebuilt the lead to seven, but Chase Morgan's 3-pointer with :36 seconds left tied it at 38 at halftime.
     Isaiah Hill and Malik Stith each hit jumpers to open the second half to give the Falcons their first lead of the night, a lead they would never give up.
     The Mountain cut it to two, but Hill's bucket at 9:14 capped a 22-4 run that pushed the Falcons advantage to 66-50.
     Fairmont built it to as much as 22 at 78-56 on Ty Garrison's basket with 5:23 to play, before going on to the 15-point win.
     Cressler led the Mountain Cats with 27 points and nine rebounds, and Novak added 13 points and five assists. Bill Luther (Gibsonia, Pa.) scored eight points, and Matt Palo (North Huntingdon, Pa.) netted seven points, while Paul Weatherly (Johnstown, Pa.) finished with five points, four rebounds, and four assists.
     Novak stands in second-place on the both the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List (1,907 pts.) and assists list (518 assts.), two behind Willaim Sharpe for the all-time lead, while Miller is Pitt-Johnstown's all-time leader in 3-point field goals with 284. Miller is also 11th on the scoring list (1,317 pts.) and 10th on the assists list (312 assts.). Luther is fifth on the career 3-point field goals list with 172.
     Pitt-Johnstown shot 44% (29-66) from the floor, 9-21 from 3-point range, and 6-12 from the free-throw line. Fairmont State, which held a 45-34 advantage on the glass, ended the night shooting 46% (32-69) from the floor and 3-6 from behind the 3-point line. The Falcons also hit 21-23 from the charity stripe.
     Hill had 21 points and 11 rebounds, and Stith collected 18 points to lead five Fairmont State players who scored in double figures. The Falcons made it seven wins in their last eight games and improved to 17-5 overall and 15-3 in the WVIAC.
     The Mountain Cats travel to Wheeling Jesuit (WV) University for a WVIAC game on Saturday, before closing out the regular season with home conference games against West Liberty (WV) University on February 21 and Seton Hill University for Senior Day on February 23.

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