Men's Basketball 6/14/2013 11:08:00 AM

Mountain Cat Basketball Season Ends With 81-73 Loss to Millersville in East Region Semifinals

03/16/2008

Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) scored 18 points, but the Mountain Cat basketball team was not able to overcome 19 turnovers and 32 points from Reggie Bates and suffered an 81-73 loss to #6-seeded Millersville University in Sunday's East Region Semifinals at California University (PA). Pitt Johnstown ended the season with a 23-8 overall record
Millersville opened up a 10-4 lead to start a first half that was highlighted with runs from both teams. Pitt Johnstown answered with an 18-7 run over the next 5:32 to take a 22-17 lead. Once again, the Marauders went on a 10-0 run until Pitt Johnstown battled back to take a 30-29 lead with 5:44 left in the half. However, Millersville closed out the first half by outscoring the Mountain Cats 15-7 to take a 44-37 halftime lead, paced by Reggie Bates' 18 points in the first 20 minutes.
Pitt Johnstown came out in the second half and cut the Millersville advantage to 50-47 on Chris Gilliam's (Baltimore, MD) lay-up and free-throw. Bates then hit three three-pointers in a 9-2 Marauder run to extend the lead back to 10 points with 13:30 to play. The Mountain Cats held Millersville scoreless for the next 4:49 and sliced the deficit to 59-57. Pitt Johnstown stayed close and trailed 67-65 with 2:37 to play, but the Marauders ended the game on a 14-8 run to secure the eight-point victory.
Tullis ended the day with 18 points on 6-12 shooting from the field and 5-6 from the free-throw line. Gilliam was the only other Mountain Cat to score in double figures. He ended with 15 points and a team-high nine rebounds. Head Coach Bob Rukavina also got eight points, seven rebounds and a game-high 10 assists from William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.) and nine points apiece from Andy Byer (Tire Hill, Pa.) and Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) in the loss.
Gilliam wrapped up his stellar Mountain Cat career ranked second on the All-Time Scoring List with 1,762 career points and third on the All-Time Rebounding List with 699 career rebounds. Tullis will enter his senior season with 980 points. Tullis will need just 20 points to become the 20th Mountain Cat to reach the 1,000-point plateau.
After shooting 54.2% in the first half, the Mountain Cats were held to 11-31 shooting in the second half to end the game at 43.6% (24-55). Pitt Johnstown hit 9-18 from behind the three-point line and 16-24 (66.7%) from the free-throw line. The Mountain Cats also held Millersville to just 43.3% shooting for the game and 9-27 (33.3%) from three-point range. The Marauders connected on 20-28 from the free-throw line and out rebounded the Mountain Cats, 38-36.
Bates' 32 points led all scorers, while Chralie Parker added 16 points, seven rebounds and eight assists. Millersville, which advances to the East Region Championship Game, also got eight points and a game-high 15 rebounds from RayQuan Miles. The Marauders improved to 22-9 on the season.

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