Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 1:58:00 PM

Mountain Cats Defeat Davis & Elkins in WVIAC Opener

11/16/2011

The Mountain Cats got 16 points from Bill Luther (Gibsonia, Pa.) and 16 rebounds from Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) and used a 17-0 run to close out the first half and start the second half en route to a 72-65 victory over Davis & Elkins (WV) College to open the WVIAC schedule, Wednesday night in the Sports Center. Pitt-Johnstown improved to 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the WVIAC.
Pitt-Johnstown took a 12-6 lead 5:25 into the game on Paul Weatherly's (Johnstown, Pa.) three-pointer, but Davis & Elkins answered with a 22-10 run over the next 7:34 to go up 28-22.
P.J. Turner's three-pointer midway through the half knotted the score at 20, before the Senators took their first lead of the night on Shane Brown's three-pointer at 8:45.
Turner's lay-up with 7:01 on the clock capped the run and put Davis & Elkins up 28-22, but the Mountain Cats scored the final 13 points of the half to take a 35-28 advantage. Nick Novak (Murrysville, Pa.) scored in the paint to give the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown with 1:41 left, and Noah hartung (Butler, Pa.) connected on a three-pointer as time was winding down to put the Mountain Cats up seven at the break.
Hartung's basket at 18:18 extended the run to 17-0 to start the second half and build the Pitt-Johnstown lead to 39-28.
After the Senators cut it to seven on Lynch's bucket at 13:46, Pitt-Johnstown pushed it out to 14 at 10:50 following a Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) free-throw and a basket from Jordan Miller (Vinco, Pa.).
Davis & Elkins continued to battle and pulled to within three at 66-63 with 1:00 remaining on another basket by Turner.
However, Pitt-Johnstown hit 4-5 free-throws down the stretch to seal the seven-point victory.
Luther finished with 16 points, including four three-pointers, to lead four Mountain Cats who scored in double-figures. Miller had 15 points, while Novak had 12 points and was 6-6 from the free-throw line. Grubbs rounded out the double-figure scorers with 11 points and grabbed a game-high 16 rebounds. Weatherly ended the night with nine points, and Hartung had seven points and seven rebounds in the win.
Grubbs is currently tied for eight-place with Devlin Herring (1994-98) on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,346 points and third on the all-time rebounding list with 779 rebounds. Novak needs 80 points to become Pitt-Johnstown's 23rd 1,000-point scorer.
Pitt-Johnstown, which held a 46-29 advantage in rebounding, shot 43.9% (25-57) from the field, 10-21 from three-point range, and 12-20 from the free-throw line. Davis & Elkins shot just 36.7% (22-60) from the floor, 10-28 from behind the three-point line, and 11-12 from the charity stripe.
Turner led all scorers with 19 points for Davis & Elkins. Brown had 14 points, and Andy Morris collected 11 points for the Senators, now 0-1 overall and 0-1 in the WVIAC.
Pitt-Johnstown travels to the University of Charleston (WV) for a WVIAC game on Saturday and to the Gannon University Gary Miller Classic over Thanksgiving, before returning home to host a WVIAC doubleheader with the Lady Cats against West Virginia Wesleyan College on Tuesday, Nov. 29. The Lady Cats will tip-off at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7:30 p.m.

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