Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 3:40:00 PM

Mountain Cats Suffer 78-69 Setback at Charleston

01/09/2010

The University of Charleston used a 32-9 run to close out the first half and start the second half to erase a 15-point deficit and hand the Mountain Cats a 78-69 road loss on Saturday. Danny Branch's (Washington, D.C.) 17 points and Patrick Grubbs' (Turtle Creek, Pa.) 16 rebounds led the way for Pitt-Johnstown, which fell to 5-4 overall and 1-3 in the WVIAC.
Branch scored eight early points to help the Mountain Cats race out to a 16-2 lead 3:30 into the game, before Nick Novak's (Murrysville, Pa.) lay-up extended the lead to 22-7 with 12:13 remaining in the first half.
Charleston scored cut the lead to 24-13 on Bahaadar Russell's basket at 11:08, but Rudy Roberts' (Cleveland, OH) lay-up pushed Pitt-Johnstown's lead back out to 15 at 28-13 1:30 later.
However, Charleston took control the last 9:00 minutes of the half and climbed right back into the game. Brandon Ross' basket with :27 left capped a 22-7 Golden Eagles' run that knotted the scored at 35 at halftime.
John White scored Charleston's first nine points of the second half to extend the run to 32-9 and give the Golden Eagles a 45-37 lead at the 16:49 mark, before Noah Hartung (Butler, Pa.) and Grubbs connected on back-to-back baskets to stop the run and cut the Mountain Cat deficit to 45-41.
After Charleston rebuilt the lead to seven points, Pitt-Johnstown battled back to regain the lead at 56-55 on Roberts' short jumper with just under eight minutes left, but once again, the Golden Eagles answered to go up 61-56. Jonathan Liggins eventually put Charleston up 72-62 with 2:34 to go, before the Golden Eagles went on to the nine-point win.
Branch led the Mountain Cats with 17 points on 7-16 shooting from the field and 3-7 from behind the three-point line. Branch also had three rebounds and three assists, while Novak added 14 points and Roberts collected 13 points and eight rebounds. Grubbs finished with six points and a game-high 16 rebounds.
White had 14 points and 10 rebounds to pace Charleston. Ross chipped in 14 points, while Liggins and Russell each had 12 points. Ibraham Marone scored eight points and grabbed 11 11 rebounds for the Golden Eagles, who improved to 6-3 overall and 5-0 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats travel to WVIAC games at West Virginia State University on Monday and Davis & Elkins (WV) College on Thursday, before hosting conference rival Alderson-Broaddus (WV) College on Saturday as part of a doubleheader with the Lady Cats. The Lady Cats will tip-off at 1 p.m., followed by the men's game at 3 p.m.

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