Skip To Main Content
Skip To Main Content

University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

PITT-JOHNSTOWN MOUNTAIN CATS

Men's Basketball

Mountain Cats Deal Davis & Elkins 70-61 Loss

01/15/2009

Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) scored 17 points and grabbed a game-high eight rebounds to help the Mountain Cat men's basketball team erase an eight-point second half deficit and earn a 70-61 win over Davis & Elkins (WV) College, Thursday night in the Sports Center. Pitt-Johnstown has won three straight games and improved to 9-3 overall and 5-1 in the WVIAC.
William Sharpe's (Johnstown, Pa.) dunk 4:04 into the game put Pitt-Johnstown up 10-5, but Davis & Elkins battled back to take a 15-13 lead on Alex Hawkins' lay-up at the 11:52 mark of the half. The Senators kept the momentum and extended the lead to 29-21 with 5:32 left, before the Mountain Cats used a 10-0 run, capped by a pair of Tullis free-throws at the 1:50 mark, to go up 31-29. However, Tim Turner's three-pointer at the buzzer gave Davis & Elkins a 32-31 halftime lead.
Matt Ionadi's (Pittsburgh, Pa.) three-pointer :39 into the second have gave Pitt-Johnstown the lead back at 34-32. Davis & Elkins eventually opened up 48-41 lead on Danny Manuel's three-pointer with 13:01 to play, but the Mountain Cats came roaring back again to tie it at 51-51 on Ionadi's layup 3:57 later. Andy Byer's (Tire Hill, Pa.) long three-pointer with 3:47 left gave the Mountain Cats a 62-60 lead and that was as close as the Senators would get, as Pitt-Johnstown hit 5-7 from the free-throw line in the last :31 to seal the victory.
Tullis' 17 points on 7-13 shooting from the field and 3-4 from the free-throw line led three Mountain Cats who scored in double figures. Ionadi finished with 16 points on 7-11 shooting and six assists, while Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) rounded out the double figure scorers with 15 points on 7-9 shooting. Byer chipped in nine points off the bench, while Sharpe scored seven points, pulled down five rebounds and dished out six assists. Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) collected six points and five rebounds for head coach Bob Rukavina in the win.
Tullis now ranks ninth on the Pitt-Johnstown scoring list with 1,185 points. Tullis is 53 points away from Mike Gresik (1981-85) for eighth place on the scoring list. Davis currently stands in 15th place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,051 points and 10th on the all-time assist list with 290. Davis needs 27 points to tie Chuck Bradford (1976-80) for 14th place place on the scoring list and four assists to tie Dwight Hines (2002-07) for ninth place on the assists list. Sharpe stands in fifth place on the assist list with 397, just 21 assists shy of J.J. Schumacher (2002-04, 2005-07) for fourth place.
The Mountain Cats ended the night shooting 47.5% (29-61) from the field, despite connecting on just 3-16 from three-point range. Pitt-Johnstown was also 9-15 from the charity stripe. The Mountain Cats held the Senators to just 19 total field goals and 35.2% shooting from the floor. Twelve of Davis & Elkins's 19 field goals came from behind the three-point line.
Manuel led all scorers with 21 points, including 6-9 from three-point range. Manual also had five rebounds and four assists, while Turner hit five three-pointers and finished with 15 points and six rebounds for the Senators, who fell to 3-8 overall and 2-3 in conference play.
Pitt-Johnstown will host a WVIAC doubleheader in the Sports Center against #15 Alderson-Broaddus (WV) College on Saturday. The Lady Cats will tip-off at 5:30 p.m., followed by the men's game at 7:30 p.m.
Print Friendly Version