Tullis' Late Jumper Leads #20 Mountain Cats Over Cal-PA

11/25/2008

Marcus Tullis' (Johnstown, Pa.) jump shot with :05 left to play lifted the Mountain Cat men's basketball team, ranked #20 in this week's NABC NCAA Division II national poll, to a 54-53 victory at California University (PA), Tuesday night. With the victory, Pitt-Johnstown improved to 3-0.
Trailing 53-52 with time running out, Tullis took Quinton Davis' (Pittsburgh, Pa.) pass and knocked down the game-winner with :05 to play to keep Pitt-Johnstown undefeated to start the season.
The Mountain Cats fell behind 30-27 at the halftime break, before erasing a 44-37 deficit with 15:37 left in the second half.
Davis led Pitt-Johnstown with 13 points, three rebounds and four assists, while Tullis scored 10 points and grabbed four rebounds to account for the only other Mountain Cat to score in double figures. Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) scored eight points and grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds to mark his third straight game with double-digit rebounds. Head coach Bob Rukavina also got eight points and five rebounds from William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.) and six points, three rebounds and three assists from Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) in the victory.
Pitt-Johnstown shot a solid 47.9% (23-48) from the field, while holding California (PA) to just 34.3% (23-67). Both team connected on three three-pointers, and both shot just 50.0% (Pitt-Johnstown 5-10, Cal 4-8) from the free-throw line. The Mountain Cats, who overcame 22 turnovers, out rebounded the Vulcans 39-36.
Julian Logan scored 14 points and had six rebounds, and Kelsey Williams added 11 points and seven rebounds to lead the Vulcans. With the loss, California (PA), last season's East Region champions, slipped to 0-2.
Pitt-Johnstown returns to the Sports Center to host Penn State-New Kensington on Wednesday and Bloomsburg University on Saturday. Both games will tip-off at 7:30 p.m.

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