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University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

PITT-JOHNSTOWN MOUNTAIN CATS

Men's Basketball

Mountain Cats Hold Off Concord, 72-68, for WVIAC Quarterfinals Win

02/28/2008

Chris Gilliam (Baltimore, MD) scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds, and Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) made a pair of free-throws with :08 left to secure a 72-68 win for the top-seeded Mountain Cat basektball team over #9-seeded Concord (WV) University in Thursday's Quarterfinals of the 2008 WVIAC Tournament in Charleston, WV. Pitt Johnstown, 21-6 on the season, will take on #4-seeded West Liberty State game in Friday's Semifinals at 8:30 p.m.
The Mountain Cats used a 5-0 run to open an 18-13 lead, but Concord answered with a 7-0 run of its own to take a 20-18 lead with 7:32 to play in the first half. Pitt Johnstown regained the lead, 22-20, at the 6:14 mark. However, Concord gained its largest advantage of the first half at 33-26, before closing out the half on a 16-10 run to take a 36-30 halftime lead, despite 11 points and nine rebounds from Gilliam.
Pitt Johnstown opened the second half on an 8-2 run to take a 40-38 lead. The teams battled back-and forth until the Mountain Cats built a 57-53 lead on Matt Ionadi's (Pittsburgh, Pa.) lay-up with 8:35 to play. Pitt Johnstown would never give up the lead again. The Mountain Cats built the lead to as many as seven points, but the Mountain Lions cut it to 61-60 on Dannie Parker's lay-up at the 4:18 mark, before Rafee Smith's three-pointer with :09 second left pulled Concord to within two. However, Tullis made two free throws with :08 to play and Pitt Johnstown held on for the four-point win.
Gilliam finished the day 6-9 from the field and 6-12 from the free-throw line, while Tullis added 16 points and four rebounds. Head Coach Bob Rukavina also got 16 points, three rebounds and four assists from William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.) and 11 points and four rebounds from Ionadi. Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) chipped in six points and a team-high five rebounds to help Pitt Johnstown advance to the semifinals.
With his 18 points, Gilliam now has 1,684 career points and stands in second place on the Mountain Cat All-time Scoring List, 389 points away from Justin Walther (1996-2000) for the top spot. With his 12 rebounds, Gilliam remains in third place on the All-Time Rebounding List with 657. He is now 218 rebounds shy of Walther for second place on the rebounding list.
After a sluggish first half, the Mountain Cats shot caught firse in the second half and finished the game shooting 51% (25-49) from the field with seven three-pointers. Pitt Johntown also made 15 of their 26 free-throws. Concord ended the day shooting 26-58 (45%) from the field and 9-30 (30%) from three-point range.
Parker's game-high 23 points and 11 rebounds led the way for Concord. Smith scored nine points on three three-pointers, and Cordale Boyd tallied eight points for the Mountain Lions, who finished the season with a 15-14 record.
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