Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 3:08:00 PM

Mountain Cats Suffer 97-75 Loss at Charleston

01/29/2011

The University of Charleston (WV) used a 31-18 first half run to build a 12-point halftime lead, before extending it to 23 points in the second half on its way to dealing the Mountain Cats a 97-75 road loss on Saturday. Nick Novak (Murrysville, Pa.) scored a game-high 26 points to pace Pitt-Johnsotwn, which slipped to 12-5 overall and 9-4 in the WVIAC.
Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) and Novak combined for the first 10 Mountain Cat points to give Pitt-Johnstown a slim 10-9 lead four minutes into the game.
Paul Weatherly (Johnstown, Pa.) then hit a pair of free-throws at 13:11 to make it 14-13 Mountain Cats, before Charleston took control and outscored Pitt-Johnstown 31-18 the rest of the first half.
John Liggins' basket at 7:32 capped a 16-3 Golden Eagles' run to put Charleston up 29-17. The Mountain Cats cut it to nine on three occasions, with the last coming on a Jordan Miller (Vinco, Pa.) three-pointer with 4:14 left, but the Golden Eagles pushed the lead to as many as 15 at 2:04 on Ibrahim Marone's bucket, before taking a 44-32 halftime advantage.
Charleston kept the momentum going to start the second half with a 14-4 run, capped by Marone's basket at 16:09, to push the lead to 23 at 59-36.
Pitt-Johnstown scored the next 10 to pull to within 13 at 59-46 on Grubbs' free-throws two minues later, but the Golden Eagles with five straight to push it back to 18.
Novak's basket with 4:40 to play cut it to 13 at 81-68, but it never got any closer,a nd Charleston went on to the 22-point victory.
Novak led all scorers with 26 poionts on 11-19 shooting from the field, 1-3 from three-point range, and 3-3 from the free-throw line. Novak also had five rebounds and five assists, while Grubbs added 19 points and nine rebounds. Miller finished with 15 points, and Bill Luther (Gibsonia, Pa.) and Weatherly chipped in seven and six points, respectively.
Pitt-Johnstown connecting on 46.6% (26-60) of its shots from the field, but just 4-21 from three-point range. The Mountain Cats, who got out-rebounded 34-27, were also 15-17 from the free-throw line. Charleston shot 58.2% (39-60) from the floor with 12 three-pointers. The Golden Eagles hit 7-9 from the charity stripe.
Branch, who holds the Mountain Cat career-record for three-pointers with 228, also ranks eighth on the Pitt-Johnstown All-Time Scoring List with 1,320 points. Grubbs stands in 16th-place on the scoring list with 1,091 points and fourth on the all-time rebounding list with 652.
Liggins' 22 points led five Golden Eagles who scored in double-figures. With the win, Charleston improved to 8-11 overall and 6-9 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats host a WVIAC doubleheader with the Lady Cats against Fairmont State (WV) University on Wednesday in the Sports Center. The Lady Cats tip-off at 6 p.m., followed by the men's game at 8 p.m. Pitt-Johnstown will then travel to Bluefield State (WV) College on Saturday for another conference game.

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