Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 3:21:00 PM

Mountain Cats Rally to Defeat Shepherd in Double Overtime

02/17/2011

The Mountain Cats scored 10 straight points to erase a 10-point deficit with 1:55 to play, before defeating Shepherd (WV) University, 104-99 in double overtime, Thursday night in the Sports Center. Nick Novak (Murrysville, Pa.) poured in a career-high 31 points, and Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) added 25 and 10 rebounds points to help Pitt-Johnstown improve to 15-8 overall and 12-7 in the WVIAC.
Pitt-Johnstown, which trailed by as many as 17 in the second half, pulled to within five at 2:43, but Shepherd pushed its lead back to 10 at 81-71 with just under two minutes to play. However, Pitt-Johnstown scored 10 straight, including four straight from Grubbs to tie it with 32 seconds. Following a Shepherd turnover, Jordan Miller's (Vinco, Pa.) three-pointer at the buzzer fell off the rim, forcing overtime.
In the first overtime, Bill Luther's (Gibsonia, Pa.) lay-up made it 85-81, but Shepherd retook the lead with just under a minute on the clock, on Brantly Osborne's three-pointer. Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) then hit a free-throw for Pitt-Johnstown with 33 seconds left to tie it and force a second overtime.
In the second overtime, Novak's lay-up put the Mountain Cats up three, and Branch hit two free-throws to make it 102-97 with 22 seconds remaining to seal the win.
Shepherd came out and built a 13-point first half lead on 76% shooting and 11-14 from three-point range.
Miller's basket at 10:48 gave the Mountain Cats a 21-17 lead, but Shepherd connected on seven three-pointers, including five in a row, during a 24-10 run to take a 44-31 lead with two minutes left in the half.
Marcus Pilgram came off the bench for the Rams and connected on four straight shots and three straight from behind the arc to put Shepherd in front 28-25.
A Jonathan Motichka's three-pointer at 4:14 pushed the margin into the double-digits, and Dave Karlson's basket in the paint made it 44-31 Rams with 2:01 left.
Branch hit a three-pointer for the Mountain Cats to cut it to 10, before Shepherd took a 49-38 halftime advantage.
The Rams came out in the second half on a 12-2 run to extend their lead to 57-40 on Aeron Spencer's lay-up at 16:28.
Shepherd's red-hot shooting cooled a bit and Pitt-Johnstown clawed back with a 13-2 run over the next six minutes to pull to within six. Novak made two free-throws to cut it to nine, and Miller drained a three-pointer at 10:47 to make it 59-53.
Osborne's three-pointer got the Shepherd lead back to 10 with 8:24 remaining, but the Mountain Cats continued to battle.
Novak's lay-up at 4:11 made it a five-point game, but the Rams quickly got it back out to 10 at 81-71 with 1:55 left, setting up the finish.
Novak scored a career-high 31 points on 10-13 shooting from the field and 11-12 from the free-throw line. Grubbs added 25 points and 10 rebounds, and Branch collected 22 points and a game-high seven assists. Miller had 14 points, and Luther had nine points and eight rebounds for the Mountain Cats.
Branch, who holds the Mountain Cat career-record for three-pointers with 248, also ranks sixth on the Pitt-Johnstown All-Time Scoring List with 1,414 points. Grubbs stands in 12th-place on the scoring list with 1,206 points and third on the all-time rebounding list with 708.
The Mountain Cats shot 58.2% (39-67) from the floor with five three-pointers. Pitt-Johnstown, which held a 34-29 advantage in rebounding, was also 21-26 from the free-throw line. After shooting 76% in the first half, Shepherd cooled off and finished the game shooting 56.5%. The Rams connected on 16 three-pointers and were 5-9 from charity stripe.
Osborne paced Shepherd with 25 points, including six three-pointers, and Chad Moore added 24 points and nine rebounds. With the loss, the Rams fell to 11-14 overall and 8-12 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats will host a doubleheader with the Lady Cats against West Virginia State University on Saturday beginning at 2 p.m., before celebrating Senior Night with a doubleheader against West Virginia Wesleyan College on Wednesday. The Lady Cats will tip-off at 6 p.m., followed by the men's game at 8 p.m.

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