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University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

PITT-JOHNSTOWN MOUNTAIN CATS

Men's Basketball

Mountain Cats Hit 14 Three-Pointers in 83-72 Win at Fairmont State

01/10/2008

Fairmont State (WV) University came into Thursday's WVIAC match-up against the Mountain Cats as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the country, but it was Pitt Johnstown who knocked down 14 from behind the arc in an 83-72 road win. Freshman Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) connected on five three-pointers and finished with a career-high 19 points, and Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) added 21 points to help Pitt Johnstown improve to 6-3 overall and remain on top of the WVIAC standings at 4-0.
After falling behind, 16-8, five minutes into the game, Pitt Johnstown battled back to take a 26-20 lead with 7:58 left in the first half. The Falcons answered with an 18-11 run to end the half with a 38-31 lead. Fairmont State increased the lead to 48-37 at the 18:08 mark of the second half, before the Mountain Cats went on a 23-7 run to reclaim the lead, 60-55 with 11:29 to play. Pitt Johnstown never gave up the lead and built a 16-point lead, before earning the 11-point win.
The Mountain Cats, who shot 53.6% (30-56) from the field and 58.3% (14-24) from three-point range, held the Falcons to just 38-9% (28-72) shooting for the game, including 12-32 (37.5%) from behind the three-point line. Pitt Johnstown also out rebounded Fairmont State 43-33.
Branch scored 12 of his 19 points in the first half and ended the night shooting 6-9 from the field, 5-7 from three-point range and 2-3 from the free-throw line. Branch also grabbed seven rebounds, while Tullis scored a team-high 21 points (9-11 FGs) and pulled down a team-high nine rebounds. Junior guard William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.) scored 14 points (4 three pointers), grabbed four rebounds and dished out six assists, and senior forward Chris Gilliam (Baltimore, MD) chipped in 12 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Head Coach Bob Rukavina also got eight points and seven rebounds from junior guard Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) in the victory.
With his 12 points, Gilliam moved within one point of Rich Ragan (1974-1978) for fifth place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List. Gilliam's 492 career rebounds are also three shy of Eugene Wilson (1998-2003) for 10th place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Rebounding List.
Thad McFadden's game-high 24 points and eight rebounds led four Fairmont State players who scored in double figures. Adam Southern (14 points), Cody Loughry (12 points) and Jamal Womble (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Falcons, who fell to 7-3 overall and 1-2 in WVIAC play.
The Mountain Cats return home to host West Virginia Wesleyan College for a WVIAC conference game on Saturday and Penn State-Greater Allegheny on Monday, January 14. Both home games will tip-off at 7:30 p.m. The Penn State-Greater Allegheny game was originally scheduled for December 15, but was postponed due to a forcasted snowstorm.
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