Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 2:49:00 PM

Mountain Cats Roll Over Concord in Season Opener

11/13/2010

Nick Novak (Murrysville, Pa.) scored a game-high 23 points on a day that saw all five Mountain Cat starters score in double-figures in Pitt-Johnstown's 110-77 season-opening victory over Concord (WV) University, Saturday in the Sports Center. The Mountain Cats are 1-0 overall and 1-0 in the WVIAC.
It was all Mountain Cats from the opening tip. Pitt-Johnstown raced out to a 21-7 lead 6:27 into the game. Danny Branch's (Washington, D.C.) lay-up less than two minutes in put the Mountain Cats up 7-0. Back-to-back baskets from Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) increased the lead to 15-5, and a three-pointer from Branch made it 21-7.
Concord cut it to eight at 21-13 on a short jumper and free-throw by Kortea Johnstown a minute later, but the Mountain Cats pushed it to 19 on another Grubbs bucket at the 8:47 mark, then to 20 at 46-26 on Paul Weatherly's (Johnstown, Pa.) free-throw with just over four minutes to play in the half.
Jerontae Hunter's lay-up with two minutes remaining got the Mountain Lions to within 12 at 46-34, but Pitt-Johnstown took a 50-36 lead into the halftime break.
Concord tried to get back in it to start the second half, but the Mountain Cats always had an answer. Corey Neeley hit a three-pointer to cut the deficit to 55-45 four minutes in, but Branch followed with a three-pointer of his own to increase the lead back to 13. Less than two minutes later, Concord connected on another three-pointer to cut it back to 10, but once again, the Mountain Cats got a long-range three from Novak.
Jordan Miller's (Vinco, Pa.) jumper at 13:17 increased Pitt-Johnstown's advantage to 69-53, and the Mountain Cats never let Concord get any closer than 11 points the rest of the way.
Pitt-Johnstown extended the lead to 25 on Weatherly's free-throws with 6:27 to play. The Mountain Cats took their largest lead of the game at 103-69 on Kevin Byer's three-pointer at the 3:14 mark, before cruising to the 33-point victory.
Novak finished with 23 points on 8-15 shooting from the field, 2-3 from three-point range and 5-5 from the free-throw line. Novak also grabbed five rebounds and dished out 10 assists. Branch scored 19 points and made three three-pointer to move to within one of the Pitt-Johnstown all-time career mark, while Luther added a double-double of 19 points, including five three-pointers, and a game-high 12 rebounds in his Mountain Cat debut. Grubbs scored 15 points, and Miller chipped in 11 points to round out the Pitt-Johnstown starters who scored in double-figures.
The Mountain Cats shot an red-hot 58.5% from the floor, 15-24 from three-point range and 19-23 from the free-throw line. Pitt-Johnstown also had a 44-33 advantage in rebounding. Concord shot just 37.0% on 27-73 shooting from the field.
Rick Alderman led the Mountain Lion with 18 points and 11 rebounds. Neeley finished with 13 points, while Javaughn Acree-Manue and Jerontae Hunter each scored 10 points for Concord, which dropped to 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats host Penn State-New Kensington on Monday at 7:30 p.m. in the Sports Center, before traveling to Davis & Elkins (WV) College for a conference game on Wednesday.

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