Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 3:19:00 PM

Mountain Cats Defeat Alderson-Broaddus in Overtime on Breast Cancer Awareness Day

02/12/2011

Nick Novak (Murrysville, Pa.) hit two free-throws to force overtime, and Patrick Grubb's (Turtle Creek, Pa.) connected on two more free-throws with three seconds left to lead the Mountain Cats to a 92-91 overtime victory over Alderson-Broaddus (WV) College on Breast Cancer Awareness Day, Saturday afternoon in the Sports Center. Pitt-Johnstown snapped a three-game losing skid and improved to 14-8 overall and 11-7 in the WVIAC.
After Alderson-Broaddus battled back from an eight-point deficit to take a 76-72 lead, Grubbs' lay-up and free-throw tied it at 78 with 41 seconds. Carl Buck's basket gave put the Battlers back in front 80-78, but Novak hit a pair of free-throws with five seconds to force overtime.
In the overtime, the Mountain Cats went up 88-82 on Jordan Miller's (Vinco, Pa.) lay-up. The Battlers scored six straight to tie, but Danny Branch's (Washington, D.C.) basket with 23 seconds remaining gave Pitt-Johnstown the lead for good. Grubbs free-throws with three seconds made it 92-88, before Carl Buck hit a three-pointer at the buzzer for Alderson-Broaddus to set the final score.
In a tight first half, Alderson-Broaddus opened-up a 14-8 lead five minutes in on Nate Barnes' bucket in the paint.
Miller's back-to-back three-pointers capped a 10-3 Mountain Cat run over the next seven minutes to put Pitt-Johnstown in front, 18-17.
The Mountain Cats took the lead to 28-25 at the five-minute mark, before the Battlers tied it for the eighth time in the half and regained the lead 37-36 on two Nate Tait free-throws at 1:24.
On the ensuing possession, the Mountain Cats got a three-pointer as the shot clock was winding down from Novak. Bill Luther (Gibsonia, Pa.) followed with a short jumper at the end of the half to give Pitt-Johnstown a 41-37 advantage.
The Mountain Cats pushed their lead to five on Grubbs' lay-up 2:37 into the second half, then to eight at 54-46 at the 15-minute mark on two straight Branch three-pointers.
The Battlers answered with a 9-1 run over the next three-minutes to tie at at 55 on Buck's basket, but Pitt-Johnstown scored eight of the next 10 to rebuild the lead to eight at 65-57 on Novak's free-throws with 9:49 to play.
Alderson-Broaddus clawed all the back to retake the lead, 73-72, on Roy Brown's three-pointer from the corner at 4:35 and extend it to 76-72 on Barnes' three-pointer.
However, Novak's free-throws forced overtime and the Mountain Cats were able to hold off the Battlers.
Grubbs scored 23 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead five Mountain Cat double-figure scorers. Novak had 18 points (7-8 free-throws) and nine assists, while Miller and Branch each scored 16 points. Luther finished with 10 points and five rebounds, and Noah Hartung (Butler, Pa.) chipped in five points and seven rebounds off the bench.
Branch, who holds the Mountain Cat career-record for three-pointers with 246, also ranks sixth on the Pitt-Johnstown All-Time Scoring List with 1,392 points. Grubbs stands in 12th-place on the scoring list with 1,181 points and fourth on the all-time rebounding list with 698.
Pitt-Johnstown shot 55.9% (33-59) from the floor, including 11-17 from behind the three-point line. The Mountain Cats were also 15-18 from the free-throw line. Alderson-Broaddus ended the day shooting 50.0% (32-64) from the floor, 12-24 from three-point range, and 15-17 from the charity stripe.
Buck scored 23 points and dished out seven assists, and Barnes had 17 points to lead the Battlers, who slipped to 16-7 overall and 11-7 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats will host a doubleheader with the Lady Cats against against Shepherd (WV) University on Thursday starting at 6 p.m. in the Sports Center and a doubleheader against West Virginia State University on Saturday tipping-off at 2 p.m.

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