Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 3:54:00 PM

Mountain Cats Battle Back, Hold Off Concord 70-65

02/04/2010

Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) scored 21 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to help the Mountain Cats battle back from a 10-0 deficit to start the game in a 70-65 victory over Concord (WV) University, Thursday night in the Sports Center. Pitt-Johnstown improved to 10-9 overall and 6-8 in the WVIAC.
It didn't take Concord long to build a double-digit lead. The Mountain Lions ran out to a 10-0 lead 2:14 into the game on Damien Tunstalle's three-pointer.
The Mountain Cats countered with a 22-9 run, highlighted by eight points apiece from Andy Byer (Tire Hill, Pa.) and Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) over the next six minutes to go up 22-19. Branch's lay-up and free-throw gave Pitt-Johnstown its first lead of night at 20-19 with 11:45 remaining.
Pitt-Johnstown held the lead the rest of the first half. Kevin Byer's (Davidsville, Pa.) basket at 8:07 put the Mountain Cats up 29-22, before Concord cut it to one at 31-30 on Kortea Johnson's basket three minutes later.
A lay-up by Grubbs with 1:19 to play in the half increased the lead to 37-32. Pitt-Johnstown held that five-point lead and took a 39-34 halftime advantage.
Grubbs scored four straight points to start the second half and extend the Mountain Cats' lead to 43-34, but consecutive three-pointers by Cory Willard and Tunstalle got Concord back to within three at 43-40 at 16:42.
Andy Byer's three-pointer midway through the second half put Pitt-Johnstown up 54-47. Concord scored five staight to pull within two at 54-52 with 8:17 to play and eventually regained the lead at 61-60 on another Willard three-pointer at 4:51.
However, a Grubbs lay-up tied it at 63 and a free-throw from Nick Novak (Murrysville, Pa.) gave Pitt-Johnstown a 64-63 lead. The Mountain Cats held onto the lead the rest of the way and came away with a 70-65 win.
The Mountain Cats, who held a 38-25 advantage in rebounding and overcame 25 turnovers, shot an impressive 52% from the floor and 13-16 from the free-throw line, while holding Concord to 40.7% shooting. Concord was also 12-30 from three-point range and just 5-10 from the charity stripe.
Grubbs paced the Mountain Cats with 21 points on 8-10 shooting and 5-7 from the free-throw line. Branch added 18 points and Andy Byer rounded out the double-figure scorers with 15 points, including 3-3 from three-point range.
Tunstalle had 21 points and Williard chipped in 15 points to lead the Mountain Lions, who fell to 4-14 overall and 3-10 in the WVIAC.
Pitt-Johnstown will host a WVIAC doubleheader against Bluefield State (WV) College for Alumni Night on Saturday in the Sports Center. The Lady Cats will tip-off at 5:30 p.m. with the men's game to follow at 7:30 p.m. Pitt-Johnstown will then travel to West Liberty (WV) University on Thursday, before hosting Wheeling Jesuit (WV) University on February 13 for a doubleheader on Breast Cancer Awareness Night.

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