Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 3:24:00 PM

Branch's Three-Pointer Lifts Mountain Cats Over Seton Hill

02/26/2011

Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) hit a three-pointer with six seconds remaining to lift the Mountain Cats to an 88-87 come-from-behind victory to close out the regular season at Seton Hill University on Saturday. Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) scored 22 points to pace Pitt-Johnstown, which improved to 17-9 overall and 14-8 in the WVIAC.
After trailing by 10 early in the second half, the Mountain Cats battled back to cut it to one on a Grubbs' free-throw with 1:13 remaining. Pitt-Johnstown forced a turnover with 19 seconds on the clock, and Branch nailed a three-pointer with six seconds to give the Mountain Cats the victory.
Branch's three-pointer put the Mountain Cats up 7-2 two minutes into the game, but Seton Hill used a 22-9 run over the next 7:43 to build a 24-16 lead on Ozzy Bjelogrlic's third three-pointer of the half.
Nick Novak's (Murrysville, Pa.) basket cut it to four, before the Griffins extended the lead to 12 at 36-24 on Kellen Holmes' three-pointer with 3:52 left.
Paul Weatherly (Johnstown, Pa.) made a lay-up and Jordan Miller (Vinco, Pa.) hit a three-pointer to cap a quick 5-0 Pitt-Johnstown run to cut the deficit to seven.
After Seton Hill pushed it back out to 11, Bill Luther (Gibsonia, Pa.) connected on a three-pointer for the Mountain Cats late in the half to made it 40-32 at the break.
Seton Hill pushed the lead to 10 on Matt Miller's lay-up in the first minute of the second half, but Pitt-Johnstown answered with back-to-back three-pointers from Miller in a 12-3 run to make it 45-44 with 16:51 to play.
The Griffins extended the lead back to nine on Holmes' three-pointer at 11:27.
A Grubbs' lay-up made a a four-point game at 65-61, but Seton Hill rebounded to get the lead back to eight with seven minutes remaining.
Grubbs then connected on one of two free-throws with 1:13 on the clock to make it 84-83, before Branch's three-pointer with six seconds left gave the Mountain Cats the win.
Grubbs led four Mountain Cats who scored in double-figures with 22 points and six rebounds. Miller and Branch each hit four three-pointers and finished with 18 points apiece, while Novak added 14 points and a game-high eight assists. Luther and Weatherly chipped-in nine and seven points respectively, for Pitt-Johnstown.
Branch, who holds the Mountain Cat career-record for three-pointers with 264, also ranks fifth on the Pitt-Johnstown All-Time Scoring List with 1,485 points. Grubbs stands in 10th-place on the scoring list with 1,259 points and third on the all-time rebounding list with 729.
The Mountain Cats shot 56.1% (32-57) from the field, 9-19 from three-point range and 15-19 from the free-throw line. Seton Hill finished shooting 63.6% (35-55) from the floor, including 11-12 from behind the three-point line. The Griffins were also 6-9 from the charity stripe.
Miller scored a game-high 26 points, and Chris Giles added 21 points to pace five Seton Hill players who scored in double-figures. With the loss, the Griffins slipped to 10-19 overall and 6-16 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats open-up the 2011 WVIAC Tournament Tuesday night in the Sports Center. A win on Tuesday would put Pitt-Johnstown in the Quarterfinals on Thursday at the Charleston Civic Center in Charleston, WV.

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