Men's Basketball 6/14/2013 9:22:00 AM

Mountain Cats Earn 88-75 Win at WV Wesleyan

01/06/2009

Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) scored a game-high 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds, and Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added 19 points and nine rebounds to lead the Mountain Cat basketball team to an 88-75 victory at West Virginia Wesleyan College on Tuesday. Pitt-Johnstown improved to 7-3 overall and 3-1 in the WVIAC.
Pitt-Johnstown fell behind 7-5 early, but Tullis' jumper at the 15:44 mark of the first half tied the score and sparked a 5-0 Mountain Cat run that led to a 10-5 Pitt-Johnstown lead. West Virginia Wesleyan netted the next six points to take an 11-10 lead, but the Mountain Cats outscored the Bobcats 20-8 over the next 9:37, capped by Matt Ionadi's (Pittsburgh, Pa.) jump shot, to build a 30-19 advantage. Pitt-Johnstown eventually used 56.0% (14-25) first half shooting a 37-28 halftime lead.
West Virginia Wesleyan came out in the second half on a 12-1 run over the first 2:57 to erase the nine-point deficit and take a 40-38 lead. However, the Mountain Cats regrouped. Danny Branch's (Washington, D.C.) three-pointer with 14:58 to play ended a 12-0 Mountain Cat run and gave Pitt Johnstown a 48-40 lead. The Mountain Cats continued to add to the lead and increased it to 69-49 on Steve Heidenthal's (Clymer, Pa.) free-throw with 6:23 left, before going on to the 13-point win.
Tullis ended the night shooting 9-14 from the field and 3-3 from the free-throw line with eight rebounds and four assists, while Davis shot 6-10 from the field and 5-5 from the charity stripe. Davis also had a game-high nine rebounds and five assists. Branch rounded out the double figure scorers with 15 points, including a pair of three pointers. Head coach Bob Rukavina also got nine points from Ionadi and eight points apiece from Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) and Travis King (Washington, D.C.).
Tullis now ranks 11th on the Pitt-Johnstown scoring list with 1,146 points. Tullis is one point away from Don Elzer (1973-77) for 10th place on the scoring list. Davis currently stands in 20th place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,020 points and 10th on the all-time assist list with 283. Davis needs three points to tie Josue' Nieves (1997-00) for 19th place on the scoring list and 11 assists to tie Dwight Hines (2002-07) for ninth place on the assists list.
The Mountain Cats shot an impressive 63.5% (33-52) from the field and connected on 18 of their 24 free-throws, while holding the Bobcats to just 42.4% (28-66) shooting. West Virginia Wesleyan hit seven three-pointers and was 12-18 from the free-throw line. Pitt-Johnstown held a 38-25 advantage in rebounding.
Jerel Thomas led West Virginia Wesleyan with 20 points and six rebounds. Justin Caldwell had 15 points, and Ryan Hoehner chipped in 12 points for the Bobcats, who fell to 1-9 overall and 1-2 in conference play.
Pitt-Johnstown will host Fairmont State (WV) University on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in the Sports Center as part of a WVIAC doubleheader with the Lady Cats. The Lady Cats will tip-off aganst the Lady Falcons at 5:30 p.m.

Print Friendly Version