Men's Basketball 6/13/2013 2:59:00 PM

Mountain Cats Defeat WV State in Overtime

01/08/2011

West Virginia State University battled back from an 18-point deficit with 7:33 to play and force overtime, but the Mountain Cats built a six-point lead in the extra period and held on for a 97-95 road WVIAC victory on Saturday. Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) had game-highs of 27 points and 14 rebounds, and Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) and Nick Novak (Murrysville, Pa.) added 23 and 21 points each for Pitt-Johnstown, now 9-2 overall and 6-1 in the WVIAC.
Grubbs' free-throw with 7:33 left to play gave the Mountain Cats a 76-58 lead, but West Virginia State stormed back with a 26-6 run to tie the score at 82 on a Will Thomas free-throw with :29 remaining and force overtime.
In the overtime, Branch hit a three-pointer and Grubbs scored in the paint to put Pitt-Johnstown up 87-82. The Yellow Jackets cut it to one with 1:22 left, but Bill Luther (Gibsonia, Pa.) connected on a three-pointer and the Mountain Cats hit 5-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch to seal the two-point win.
Jordan Miller's (Vinco, Pa.) three-poionter at 16:15 knotted the score at nine and sparked a 22-6 Mountain Cat run to put Pitt-Johnstown up by 13. Grubbs and Danny Branch each scored eight point during the run, and Noah Hartung's (Butler, Pa.) lay-up capped it to give the Mountain Cats a 28-15 lead with 10:52 left.
Will Collins got West Virginia State to within nine, but Novak hit a three-pointer, and Miller followed with a free-throw to push the lead to 39-23 at 5:11.
The Yellow Jackets answered and outscored Pitt-Johnstown 14-4 the rest of the way to cut the deficit to 43-37 at the half.
Grubbs' lay-up at 18:21 extended the Pitt-Johnstown lead back into double-digits, but West Virginia State scored the next seven to make it 50-46 1:34 later.
Branch hit a pair of three-pointers to rebuild the Mountain Cat lead to 13 at 67-54, before a Grubbs free-throw ended a 26-12 run to give Pitt-Johnstown a 76-58 advantage with 7:33 to play. That's when the Yellow Jackets began their 26-6 run to end regulation and force overtime.
Grubbs poured in 27 points on 12-16 shooting from the field and 3-4 from the free-throw line to lead four Mountain Cats who scored in double-figures. Grubbs also grabbed 14 rebounds, while Branch had 23 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Novak finished with 21 points (9-10 FT's), four rebounds and a five assists, and Miller added 12 points, four rebounds and a game-high seven assists. Luther finished with nine points on three three-pointers.
Branch, who holds the Mountain Cat career-record for three-pointers with 213, also ranks 11th on the Pitt-Johnstown All-Time Scoring List with 1,230 points. Grubbs stands in ninth-place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Rebounding List with 594. Grubbs is also 28 points away from becoming the 22nd Mountain Cat to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
Pitt-Johnstown shot 47.9% (35-73) from the field, 11-28 from three-point range and 16-20 from the free-throw line. West Virginia State ended the day shooting 50% (38-76) shooting from the floor, but just 6-28 from behind the three-point line. The Yellow Jackets were also 13-18 from the charity stripe.
Collins' 21 points and Fred Harris' 16 points and 11 rebounds paced five Yellow Jackets who scored in double-figures. West Virginia State slipped to 7-5 overall and 6-2 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats travel to Alderson-Broaddus (WV) College on Monday for WVIAC games, before hosting a conference doubleheader with the Lady Cats against Davis & Elkins (WV) College on Thursday, at 8 p.m. in the Sports Center. The Lady Cats will tip-off at 6 p.m.

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