Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 3:47:00 PM

Mountain Cats Take 84-71 Win at Ohio Valley

01/21/2010

The Mountain Cats built an 18-point second half lead behind a career-high tying 26 points from Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) on their way to earning an 84-71 WVIAC victory at Ohio Valley (WV) University, Thursday night. Pitt-Johnstown won its second straight game and improved to 7-7 overall and 3-6 in conference play.
Nick Novak's (Murrysville, Pa.) three-pointer 5:21 into the game gave the Mountain Cats a 10-7 lead, but Ohio Valley battled back to go up 14-12 on Donavin Vinson's jumper in the paint at 10:13.
The Mountain Cats used a 23-9 run over the next seven minutes to build their largest lead of the first half at 35-23. Andy Byer's (Tire Hill, Pa.) three-pointer put Pitt-Johnstown up 27-20 with 4:49 remaining, before three of Branch's 15 first half points extended the lead to 12 at 3:10.
The Fighting Scots cut the deficit to 37-29 on two Travis Kersenbrock free-throws with just over a minute left. Pitt-Johnstown pushed the lead back to 12 points and took a 42-31 lead into halftime.
The Mountain Cats scored the first five points of the second half. Byer's three-pointer extended the lead to 47-31, before Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) pushed it to 18 points at 55-37 at 15:47.
Pitt-Johnstown held the 18-point lead with 13:40 to play. The Fighting Scots outscored the Mountain Cats 12-1 over the next 4:39 to pull within seven at 62-55.
Four straight free-throws from Novak put the lead back into double-digits at 66-55 with seven minutes left. Ohio Valley got it down to 68-61 on Rodney Everage's free-throw at 4:30, but it never got any closer. Pitt-Johnstown all six of its free-throws in the final minute and went on to the 13-point victory.
The Mountain Cats ended the night shooting 50.9% from the floor, 6-19 from three-point range and 24-31 from the free-throw line. Ohio Valley was held to just 41.3% shooting, including 4-18 from behind the three-point line. The Fighting Scots were 15-22 from the charity stripe.
Branch led four Mountain Cats who scored in double-figures with 26 points on 8-17 shooting from the field, 4-9 from three-point range and 6-8 from the free-throw line. Branch also pulled down seven rebounds. Byer had 18 points and eight rebounds, while Novak ended with 18 points on 7-9 shooting and 4-5 from the free-throw line. Grubbs rounded out the double-figure scorers with 12 points and five boards. Noah Hartung (Butler, Pa.) grabbed seven rebounds.
Vinson's 19 points and game-high 12 rebounds led the way for Ohio Valley. David White scored 12 points, and Everage collected eight points and eight rebounds for the Fighting Scots, who slipped to 3-11 overall and 2-7 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats will host a conference game against West Virginia Wesleyan College on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Sports Center, before traveling to Fairmont State (WV) University on Thursday.

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