Mountain Cats Roll Over Clarion 94-79

12/07/2009

Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) scored 20 of his game-high 32 points in the first half to help the Mountain Cats build a 13-point lead on their way to earning a 94-79 non-conference victory over Clarion University, Monday night in the Sports Center. Pitt-Johnstown is now 3-3 on the year.
Shameel Carty's lay-up four minutes into the game gave Clarion a slim 15-12 lead, but Pitt-Johnstown came back to go up 18-17 on two of Grubbs'20 first half points. The Mountain Cats continued to extend the lead, before Andy Byer's (Tire Hill, Pa.) long three-pointer capped the 24-12 run to give Pitt-Johnstown a 36-27 advantage.
The Golden Eagles cut the deficit to 36-32 with a quick 6-0 run of their own, but the Mountain Cats eventually built the lead to 50-37 on a pair of Jordan Miller (Mineral Point, Pa.) free-throws with :46 remaining, before taking a 50-40 halftime lead.
Clarion came out in the second half and pulled to within 62-57 on Carty's basketball at 12:57, but the Mountain Cats never let the Golden Eagles get any closer. Grubbs' lay-up and free-throw pushed it back out to a 12-point lead at 69-57 with 11:30 left.
Pitt-Johnstown never looked back. Three straight free-throws from Grubbs gave the Mountain Cats an 87-67 lead with 3:54 to play, before cruising to the 15-point victory.
Pitt-Johnstown, which out rebounded Clarion 42-36, shot 52.1% (38-73) from the field and a solid 12-15 from the free-throw line.
Grubbs led all scorers with 32 points on 13-17 shooting from the field and 6-7 from the free-throw line. Grubbs also pulled down a game-high nine rebounds, while Byer had 17 points, including three three-pointers, five rebounds and a game-high seven assists. Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) netted 12 points and Rudy Roberts (Cleveland, OH) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points and eight rebounds. Nick Novak Murrysville, Pa.) chipped in eight points, six rebounds and three assists.
Carty paced Clarion with 20 points and five rebounds. Paul McQueen tallied 16 points and a team-high eight rebounds, and Jamar Harrison and Jordan Lessane each scored 11 points for the Golden Eagles, who slipped to 3-2.
The Mountain Cats wrap-up a five-game home stand against Penn State-New Kensington on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in the Sports Center, before finishing the first semester at Bloomsburg University on Saturday at 3 p.m.

Print Friendly Version