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University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

PITT-JOHNSTOWN MOUNTAIN CATS

Men's Basketball

Mountain Cats Fall, 87-78, at Charleston; Gilliam Moves into 3rd Place on Mountain Cat Scoring List

01/19/2008

Junior forward Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) scored 18 points, grabbed a team-high seven rebounds and had four assists to lead five Mountain Cats who scored in double figures, but Pitt Johnstown was not able to overcome a 17-point halftime deficit and suffered an, 87-78, loss at the University of Charleston (WV), Saturday night. The loss snapped the Mountain Cats' six-game winning streak and gave the team its first loss in WVIAC play. Pitt Johnstown is now 9-4 overall and 6-1 in league play.
Tullis' 18 points came on 9-14 shooting from the field. Chris Gilliam (Baltimore, MD) added 16 points and six rebounds, while Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) collected 14 points on 6-10 shooting from the field (1-3 3FGs) and 1-2 from the free-throw line. Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) rounded out Pitt Johnstown's double-figure scorers with 11 and 10 points, respectively. Coach Rukavina also got five points, five rebounds, five assists and a game-high four steals from point guard William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.) in the loss.
With his 16 points, Gilliam climbed past Chris Rhames (1995-98) into third place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,384 points. Gilliam is now 106 points away from Quinn Harris (1988-92) for second place on the scoring list.
Charleston, which led from wire-to-wire, held a 23-17 lead with 12:47 to play in the first half, before going on a 24-12 run over the next 7:27 to open up an 18-point advantage. The Golden Eagle eventually took a 54-37 halftime lead and held a double-digit lead until the 5:05 mark of the second half. Head Coach Bob Rukavina's Mountain Cats cut the lead to, 76-71, with 3:28 to play on Gilliam's lay-up and free-throw. However, Charleston secured the win by outscoring Pitt Johnstown, 11-7, down the stretch.
The Mountain Cats shot a solid 48.4% (30-62) from the field and 78.9% (15-19) from the free-throw line, but struggled from three-point range, hitting just 3-19 (15.8%) from behind the arc. Charleston ended the night shooting 33-63 (52.4%)from the field, 9-22 (40.9%) from behind the three-point line and 12-19 (63.2%) from the free-throw line.
Robert Strickland scored a game-high 28 points and pulled down six rebounds to lead Charleston. Marquis Brooks had 14 points, five rebounds and five assists, and Austin Weatherington chipped in 10 points, five rebounds and a game-high eight assists to help the Golden Eagles improve to 10-4 overall and 4-3 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats return home to begin a three-game home stand starting with Bluefield State (WV) College as part of a doubleheader with the Lady Cats on Thursday. The Lady Cats will tip-off at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7:30 p.m.
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