Mountain Cats Defeat Shepherd, 70-58, in WVIAC Play

01/05/2008

Chris Gilliam (Baltimore, MD) poured in a game-high 20 points to pace four Mountain Cats who scored in double figures in a 70-58 win over WVIAC foe Shepherd (WV) University, Saturday evening in the Sports Center. With the win, Head Coach Bob Rukavina's team made it two straight wins and improved to 5-3 overall and 3-0 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats trailed 33-28 at halftime, before coming out in the second half and outscoring the Rams 42-25 in the second half. Pitt Johnstown erased the five-point deficit and took a 39-37 lead two minutes into the second half and never gave up the lead again. The Mountain Cats built the lead to 56-44 with 8:15 to play, before cruising the the 12-point win.
After scoring just two points in eight minutes in the first half due to a pair of quick fouls, Gilliam came out in the second half and tallied 18 points on 6-6 shooting from the field and 6-7 shooting from the free-throw line. Freshman Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) added 12 points and three rebounds off of Coach Rukavina's bench, while Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) and Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) chipped in 10 points apiece. Ionadi also grabbed a game-high seven rebounds, and junior guard Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) pulled down six rebounds. Pitt Johnstown also got outstanding play from junior point guard William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.). Sharpe scored nine points, had four rebounds, dished out a game-high seven assists and made five steals in the victory.
Pitt Johnstown shot an impressive 72.7% (16-22) in the second half after connecting on just 41.9% in the first half to finish the game 54.7% (29-53). The Mountain Cats out-rebounded Shepherd, 33-30 and connected on nine of its 11 free-throws. The Rams finished the game shooting just 40.7% (24-59) from the field, 27.3% (6-22) from three-point range and 44.4% (4-9) from the free-throw line.
Liki Turner scored 15 points and Fred Lymas added 11 points to lead Shepherd. Justin Jarmin added eight points and a team-high six rebounds for the Rams, who fell to 7-3 overall and 1-2 in WVIAC play.
The Mountain Cats visit Fairmont State (WV) University for a WVIAC conference game on Thursday, before returning home to host West Virginia Wesleyan College for another conference game next Saturday and Penn State-Greater Allegheny on Monday, January 14. Both home games will tip-off at 7:30 p.m.

Print Friendly Version