Men's Basketball Suffers, 64-62, Loss at West Chester

01/17/2007

Sophomore forward Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) scored 16 points, but the Mountain Cat men's basketball team began a stretch of three straight road games with a tough, 64-62, loss on Wednesday at West Chester University. With the loss, Head Coach Bob Rukavina's team dropped to 11-6 on the season.
Pitt Johnstown built a 31-26 halftime lead, and increased the lead to 11 points with 13:15 to play. However, the Golden Rams battled back to take a 44-43 lead at the 11:12 mark of the second half. The teams exchanged the lead several times, but Kenneth St. Geroge connected on a pair of free-throws with :10 to play to give West Chester a 64-60 lead. Mountain Cat senior guard Dwight Hines (Aliquippa, Pa.) hit a jumper with :01 left on the clock to set the final score at 64-62.
Tullis finished the night with 16 points on 7-13 shooting from the field and 2-2 from the free-throw line. Sophomore guard Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added 13 points, and senior guard J.J. Schumacher (Castle Shannon, Pa.) scored 10 points, grabbed a career-high 11 rebounds and dished out three assists. Coach Rukavina also got nine points from Hines and six points apiece from junior forward Chris Gilliam (Baltimore, MD) and sophomore center Kyle Goldcamp (Pittsburgh, Pa.).
With his nine points, Hines is now 27 points away from becoming the 17th Mountain Cat 1,000-point scorer, while Gilliam now has 950 career points.
Neither team shot the ball all that well from the floor. Pitt Johnstown, which leads the nation in field goal percentage, shot 41.7% (25-60) from the field and 4-18 (22.2%) from three-point range. The Golden Rams were 21-55 (38.2%) from the floor and 6-26 (23.1%) from behind the three-point range. West Chester hit 16 of its 20 free-throw, while the Mountain Cats were 8-9 (88.9%) from the free-throw line. The Golden Rams also out rebounded Pitt Johnstown 39-33.
West Chester's St. George led all scorere with 25 points on 6-13 shooting, including 3-9 from three-point range and 10-10 from the free-throw line. Aaron Williams chipped in 17 points and a team-high 10 rebounds for the Golden Rams, now 9-5 on the year.
Pitt Johnstown continues a three-game road trip when they travel to the University of the District of Columbia on Saturday. The Mountain Cats return to the Sports Center to host Columbia Union (MD) College on Saturday, January 27 at 7:00 p.m.

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