Men's Basketball 6/14/2013 9:10:00 AM

Mountain Cats Advance to WVIAC Quarterfinals With Win Over Shepherd

03/10/2010

Andy Byer (Tire Hill, Pa.) poured in a game-high 19 points to lead a balanced Mountain Cat attack that saw five players score in double-figures in an 83-69 victory over No. 10 seeded Shepherd (WV) University in Tuesday's First Round of the 2010 WVIAC Tournament in the Sports Center. The Mountain Cats, 17-11 on the year, advance to the WVIAC Quarterfinals to take on No. 2 seeded West Virginia State University on Thursday at 3 p.m. at the Civic Center in Charleston, WV. Pitt-Johnstown ran out to a 16-6 lead 4:30 into the game. Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) opened the scoring and Andy Byer (Tire Hill, Pa.) hit consecutive three-pointers to put the Mountain Cats up 8-0. Grubbs and Steve Heidenthal (Clymer, Pa.) combined to score the next eight Pitt-Johnstown points to make it 16-6 at 15:29. Shepherd scored six straight to cut it to 16-12 on Sydney McCray's basket with just under 14 minutes in the half, but the Mountain Cats used an 11-2 run over the next 6:38, capped by Rudy Roberts' (Cleveland, OH) basket in the paint to increase the lead to 27-14. However, the Rams doubled-up the Mountain Cats, 22-11, the rest of the way to pull within two at the break. Shepherd got it down to two with 1:05 remaining, and Jonathan Motichka's three-pointer gave the Rams their first lead of the night at 35-34. Baskets by Nick Novak (Murrysville, Pa.) and Heidenthal increased the lead to 38-35, before a Motichka free-throw made it 38-36 at halftime. Shepherd knotted it at 38 on the first possession of the second half, but Pitt-Johnstown was able to rebuild its lead back to double-digits, 60-50, on Danny Branch's (Washington, D.C.) third three-pointer of the evening at the 11-minute mark. Roberts' lay-up and free-throw at 7:03 pushed the lead to 70-56. The Rams got as close as 78-69 on a three-pointer by Derek Gallagher with 1:57 to play, but Pitt-Johnstown cruised to the 14-point victory. Pitt-Johnstown ended the night shooting 58.9% from the floor, 7-18 from three-point range and 10-13 fromt he free-throw line. The Rams were held to 45.8% shooting, 7-18 from behind the three-point line and 8-12 from the charity stripe. Byer led all scorers with 19 points on 5-9 shooting, 4-7 from three-point range and 5-6 from the free-throw line. Branch added 18 points and five rebounds, while Novak finished with 14 points and a game-high six assists. Grubbs chipped in 12 points and a game-high nine rebounds and Roberts scored 12 points on 5-5 shooting and pulled down five rebounds off the bench. Branch, currently stands in 20th-place on the Pitt-Johnstown All-Time Scoring List with 1,028 points. He is six points shy of Ron Haden for 19th-place on the scoring list. With his three three-pointers against Shepherd, Branch stands in second-place on Pitt-Johnstown's All-Time Three-Point Field Goals List with 184. He is six away from Steve Scorpion for the top-spot. Byer's 139 three-pointers are two shy of Dwight Hines for eighth-place on the list. Gallagher paced Shepherd with 17 points. McCray had 14 points and six rebounds, and Dave Karlson collected 10 points for the Rams, whose season ends with a 9-19 record.

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