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University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

PITT-JOHNSTOWN MOUNTAIN CATS

Men's Basketball

Gilliam's Lay-up at Buzzer Leads Mountain Cats Over Shippensburg

01/02/2008

Chris Gilliam's (Baltimore, MD) lay-up at the buzzer off of a missed shot capped a Pitt Johnstown rally and gave the Mountain Cats an exciting 87-85 win over visiting Shippensburg University, Wednesday night in the Sports Center. Gilliam's team-high 24 points led four Mountain Cats who scored in double figures and helped Pitt Johnstown improve to 4-3 on the season.
Despite shooting 60.7% from the field in the first half, the Mountain Cats trailed the Red-Raiders, 45-41 at halftime. Shippensburg extended the lead to 12 points eight minutes into the second half, before the Mountain Cats began to claw their way back and take a 83-82 lead with 1:06 to play. A pair of free-throws by William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.) increased the lead to 85-82. However, Shippensburg's Alex Jones connected on a long three-pointer with :12 left on the clock to tie the score. Pitt Johnstown inbounded the ball and got a good look from Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.), but his shot rimmed-off into Gilliam's hands. As time expired, Gilliam's lay-up fell through the bottom of the net giving the Mountain Cats the win and snapping Pitt Johnstown's two-game losing streak.
Gilliam, who finished the night shooting 10-14 from the field, moved into sixth place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,270 career points. He is now 33 points shy of Rich Ragan (1974-1978) for fifth place on the scoring list.
Tullis added 18 points and a game-high seven rebounds, while Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) scored 15 points, pulled down four rebounds and dished out seven assists. Sharpe rounded out the double figure scorers with 11 points and a game-high eight assists. Head Coach Bob Rukavina also got seven points from Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and six points from Steve Heidenthal (Clymer, Pa.) in the victory.
After shooting 60.7% in the first half, the Mountain Cats shot even better in the second half. Pitt Johnstown hit 67.9% in the second half to finish the game at 64.3% (36-56). Pitt Johnstown also hit five three-pointers and made 10 of its 13 free-throws (76.9%). The Red Raiders also shot the ball well, finishing 30-53 (56.6%) from the field. Shippensburg went 15-30 (50.0%) from three-point range, including eight three pointers from Jones, and 10-11 (90.0%) from the free-throw line.
Jones' game-high 30 points on 11-24 from the field and 8-18 from behind the three-point line led Shippensburg. Ryan Kraft (14 points), Derrick Graff (13 points) and Dane Lauber (11 points) also scored in double figures for the Red Raiders, who fell to 5-7 on the year.
The Mountain Cats get the WVIAC conference schedule going in full swing on Saturday when Shepherd visits the Sports Center for a 7:30 p.m. tip-off. The Lady Cats will play the Shepherd women's team prior to the men's game at 5:30 p.m.
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