Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 3:56:00 PM

Mountain Cats Roll Over Bluefield State, 89-46

02/06/2010

The Mountain Cats outscored Bluefield State (WV) College 51-13 over the final 17 minutes to break open a five-point game and deal the the Big Blues an 89-46 loss, Saturday night in the Sports Center. Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead a Pitt-Johnstown attack that saw all 10 players score at least two points. The Mountain Cats made it two straight games and improved to 11-9 overall and 7-8 in the WVIAC.
Pitt-Johnstown, which out-rebounded Bluefield State 45-33 and had 12 blocked shots, shot an impressive 59% (36-61) from the field, 11-21 from three-point range and 6-9 from the free-throw line. The Big Blues finished the night shooting just 27.9% from the floor and just 4-20 from behind the three-point line.
Bluefield State went up 4-3 on Sean Weatherspoon's lay-up three minutes into the game, but Nick Novak's (Murrysville, Pa.) three-pointer the next time down the floor gave the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown at 6-4.
The Mountain Cats would never trail again. Jordan Miller (Mineral Point, Pa.) hit a three-pointer to push the lead to nine at 25-16 with just over nine minutes left in the half. The Big Blues scored the next six points to pull within three at 25-22 on another Weatherspoon basket in the paint.
Pitt-Johnstown answered with an 11-2 run over the final 7:36 to build a 12-point halftime lead. Andy Byer's (Tire Hill, Pa.) basket with 1:07 left extended the lead into double-figures, before a Jordan Medich (North Huntingdon, Pa.) free-throw with three seconds left in the first half gave the Mountain Cats a 36-24 advantage at intermission.
Bluefield State outscored Pitt-Johnstown 9-2 over the first three minutes of the second half to pull within five at 38-33 on Stephen Neal's bucket.
However, Pitt-Johnstown used a 25-3 run over the next 7:53 to put the Big Blues away. Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) scored five straight points for the Mountain Cats to get the lead back into double figures, before Steve Heidenthal (Clymer, Pa.) scored inside to extend the lead to 22 at 57-35 with 11 minutes to play.
The Mountain Cats continued to build their lead. Another Miller three-pointer made it 72-38 with 6:29 left, and Medich's three-pointer put Pitt-Johnstown up by 43 at 86-43 with 1:50 remaining. The Mountain Cats went on to win by that amount.
Grubbs led all scorers with 14 points on 7-10 shooting to lead five double-figure scorers. He also grabbed eight rebounds and blocked four shots, while Miller added 13 points, including three three-pointers. Rudy Roberts (Cleveland, OH) had 11 points and eight rebounds, and Novak and Branch had 10 points apiece. Novak pulled down six rebounds, and Byer scored nine points and dished out a game-high 10 assists.
Weatherspoon led Bluefield State with 12 points and eight rebounds. Rico Thompson had 10 points, and Neal had eight points and a game-high nine rebounds for the Big Blues, who dropped to 3-16 overall and 3-11 in the WVIAC.
Pitt-Johnstown travels to West Liberty (WV) University on Thursday, before hosting Wheeling Jesuit (WV) University on Saturday for a doubleheader on Breast Cancer Awareness Night and Ohio Valley (WV) University on Monday, February 15. The Lady Cats will tip-off both home doubleheaders at 5:30 p.m. in the Sports Center, with the mens' game to follow at 7:30 p.m.

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