Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 3:48:00 PM

Miller's Six Three-Pointers Lead Mountain Cats over WV Wesleyan

01/23/2010

Jordan Miller (Mineral Point, Pa.) connected on six three-pointers to lead a balanced Mountain Cat attack that erased an eight-point first-half deficit to earn a 92-80 victory over West Virginia Wesleyan College, Saturday night in the Sports Center. Pitt-Johnstown, winners of three straight, improved to 8-7 overall and 4-6 in the WVIAC.
West Virginia Wesleyan ran out to a 9-2 lead on Neven Zeravica's basketball three minutes into the game, before Miller's first of three first half three-pointers cut the deficit to 14-13 with 12:51 left.
The Bobcats eventually built their largest lead of the first half at 28-20 on another Zeravica basket in the paint at 7:34.
However, Pitt-Johnstown outscored West Virginia Wesleyan 24-9 the rest of the way to take a 44-37 halftime advantage. Rudy Robert's (Cleveland, OH) rebound and put-back tied the game at 28 with 3:59 remaining. Robert's got another offensive board and lay-up the next trip down the floor to give the Mountain Cats their first lead since they scored the first basket of the game. Andy Byer (Tire Hill, Pa.) hit a three-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer to extend the lead to seven.
Pitt-Johnstown came out and scored the first five points of the second half to extend the run to 29-9 and increase the lead to 49-37 on Noah Hartung's (Butler, Pa.) lay-up. The Bobcats hung around and pulled to within five at 51-46 on Dominique Ngniman's bucket with just under 16 minutes to play.
The Mountain Cats began to pull away again. Danny Branch's (Washington, D.C.) three-pointer 1:50 later pushed the lead back to 12, and Miller's sixth three-pointer of the night at 5:59 gave Pitt-Johnstown a 75-60 lead.
West Virginia Wesleyan was able to get within eight with :38, but Pitt-Johnstown on to the 12-point victory.
Miller led five Mountain Cats with 20 points on 7-12 shooting from the field and 6-10 from the free-throw line. Branch added 17 points and a game-high seven assists and Roberts chipped in 16 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Nick Novak (Murrysville, Pa.) had 15 points and six assists, while Byer rounded out the double-figure scorers with 12 points and five assists.
Zeravica's game-high 22 points and 16 rebounds paced West Virginia Wesleyan. Jeff White (14 points), Ngniman (13 points) and Ryan Hoehner (11 points) also scored in double-figures for the Bobcats, who fell to 2-13 overall and 2-8 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats travel to Fairmont State (WV) University on Thursday and to Glenville State (WV) College on Saturday, before hosting a WVIAC doubleheader with the Lady Cats against Seton Hill University on Monday, February 1 beginning at 5:30 p.m. in the Sports Center.

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