Men's Basketball 6/14/2013 9:07:00 AM

Mountain Cats Knock-Off Fairmont State On Senior Night

02/23/2010

Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) had a career-high 29 points and 12 rebounds and Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) added 12 points to moved to within 10 of 1,000, as the Mountain Cats defeated Atlantic Region No. 7 ranked Fairmont State (WV) University, 78-75, on Tuesday's Senior Night in the Sports Center. Pitt-Johnstown improved to 15-11 overall and 11-10 in the WVIAC.
Prior to the game, Pitt-Johnstown honored seniors Andy Byer (Tire Hill, Pa.), Steve Heidenthal (Clymer, Pa.) and Jordan Medich (North Huntingdon, Pa.).
Branch, who has 990 career points, needs 10 points to become the 21st Mountain Cat to reach the 1,000-point mark.
Dan Bruner's three-pointer 1:15 into the game gave Fairmont State a 5-2 lead, but Pitt-Johnstown used the rest of the half to build an 11 point lead. Pitt-Johnstown improved to 15-11 overall and 11-10 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats used a 10-2 run over the next 3:53 to take a 12-7 lead on Branch's three-pointer. Fairmont State cut it to one three minutes later, but Nick Novak's (Murrysville, Pa.) lay-up increased the lead to 25-18 with 5:45 remaining.
The Falcons never got closer than five the rest of the half. Jordan Miller's (Mineral Point, Pa.) second three-pointer of the half built the lead to nine with 2:28 left, before two straight baskets by Grubbs gave Pitt-Johnstown a 39-26 lead.
Fairmont State's Isaac Thronton's driving lay-up with under 30 seconds, cut the deficit to 39-28 at the break.
The Falcons got right back in the game with an 18-7 run to start the second half. Pete O'Connor, Thornton and Bruner hit consecutive three-pointers top get Fairmont State to within two at 43-41 at 16:22, before Chris Talley's three-pointer at the 14-minute mark tied it at 46.
Fairmont State regained the lead 52-48 two minutes later on a pair of Will Richardson free-throws and bucket from Talley.
Noah Hurtung's (Butler, Pa.) lay-up at 7:24 put the Mountain Cats back into the lead, 59-58, before Bruner tied it at 65 on two free-throws with five minutes to play.
It stayed close the rest of the way. Byer's lay-up made it a four-point game at 75-71 with 2:11 on the clock. Fairmont State cut it to 75-73, but Novak and Miller combined to hit three free-throws in the final nine seconds to seal the win.
The Mountain Cats shot 51.5% from the field, 6-13 from three-point range and 4-7 from the free-throw line. Fairmont State finished at an even 50% shooting. The Falcons were 10-17 from behind the three-point line and 7-10 from the charity stripe.
Grubbs led all scorers with 29 points on 14-17 from the field and 1-2 from the free-throw line. He also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and dished out six assists. Branch had 12 points, while Byer rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points and a game-high seven assists. Novak had six points, six rebounds and five assists.
With his two three-pointers against Fairmont State, Branch stands in second-place on Pitt-Johnstown's All-Time Three-Point Field Goals List with 177. He is 13 away from Steve Scorpion for the top-spot. Byer's 135 three-pointers are six shy of Dwight Hines for eighth-place on the list.
Bruner's 20 points led four Fairmont State players who scored in double-figures. Thornton (16 points), Green (13 points) and Talley (11 points) also scored in double-figures for the Falcons, who slipped to 20-5 overall and 15-5 in the WVIAC.
Pitt-Johnstown will wrap-up the regular season at Shepherd (WV) University on Saturday, before playing an opening round game in the 2010 WVIAC Tournament on Tuesday.

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