Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 2:54:00 PM

Mountain Cats Suffer 101-90 Loss at Glenville State

12/04/2010

Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) and Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) each scored 23 points, but Glenville State (WV) College used a 16-2 run in the second half to erase a three-point deficit and hand the Mountain Cats a 101-90 road loss, Saturday night. Pitt-Johnstown suffered its first loss of the season and slipped to 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the WVIAC.
Branch's three-pointer gave the Mountain Cats an early 7-4 lead, but Glenville State answered to go up 23-16 on a Janko Popovic three-pointer three minutes later.
Pitt-Johnstown got a three-pointer from Bill Luther (Gibsonia, Pa.) and a tip-in from Kevin Byer (Davidsville, Pa.) to pull to within two at 23-21 midway through the half.
However, the Pioneers then used a 20-12 run, capped by Tony Smith's lay-up, to take their largest lead of the first half at 43-33 with about three minutes left.
The Mountain Cats got it down to five on a pair of Nick Novak (Murrysville, Pa.) free-throws with two minutes remaining, before Glenville State took a 48-41 advantage into the halftime break.
Pitt-Johnstown opended the second half on an 11-3 run to regain the lead. Luther connected for three and Jordan Miller (Vinco, Pa.) hit two three-pointers in the first three minutes of the second half to get the deficit to 51-50, before a dunk from Branch gave the Mountain Cats the lead back at 52-51.
Miller's fifth three-pointer of the night made it 63-60 Pitt-Johnstown with 11 minutes left, but Glenville State outsscored the Mountain Cats 16-2 of the next five minutes to gain its largest lead of the game at 76-65.
Two straight three-pointers by Pitt-Johnstown made it 76-71 with seven minutes left.
The Pioneers extended the lead back to eight points with five minutes on the clock. Grubbs scored the next five Pitt-Johnstown points to cut it to 79-76 with under five minutes to play, but it never got any closer. Glenville State hit 11-12 from the free-throw line down the stretch to hold on for the 11-point win.
Grubbs and Branch led the way for Pitt-Johnstown with 23 points apiece. Grubbs also pulled down seven rebounds, while Miller added 19 points, inclulding five three-pointers. Novak rounded out the double-figure scorers with 14 points.
The Mountain Cats shot a season-low 40% from the field, but out-rebounded the Pioneers, 48-39. Glenville State shot 50% from the floor.
Justsin Caldwell poured in a game-high 31 points and dished out eight assists, and Nick Dent chipped in 26 points for the Pioneers, who improved to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in the WVIAC.
Branch, who holds the Mountain Cat career-record for three-pointers with 203, also ranks 12th on the Pitt-Johnstown All-Time Scoring List with 1,160 points. He is 14 points shy of tying Tyrone Doleman (1986-88) for 13th-place on the scoring list.
The Mountain Cats travel to Clarion University for a non-conference game on Wednesday, before playing their final home game of the first semester against Bloomsburg University on Saturday at 3 p.m. in the Sports Center.

Print Friendly Version