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University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

PITT-JOHNSTOWN MOUNTAIN CATS

Men's Basketball

Mountain Cats Defeat UDC 87-69 for Sixth Straight Win

02/02/2009

Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) poured in a career-high 30 points to help the Mountain Cat men's basketball team break open a six-point halftime lead and roll to an 87-69 non-conference victory at the University of the District of Columbia on Monday. Pitt-Johnstown has won six straight games and improved to 15-4 overall.
The Mountain Cats, who never trailed, jumped out to an 11-2 lead on Quinton Davis' (Pittsburgh, Pa.) basket at 14:45, before U.D.C. used a 10-2 run to cut the deficit to 13-12 three minutes later. Pitt-Johnstown answered and rebuilt the lead to 28-18 on Tullis' bucket and free-throw with 4:19 remaining, before taking a 33-27 halftime lead.
Tullis' layup three minutes into the second half gave the Mountain Cats 41-29 advantage. Once again, the Firebirds battled back to get to within 51-49 with 12:09 to play, but the Mountain Cats used a 10-2 run over the next 2:30 to regain a 10-point advantage. Pitt-Johnstown never looked back, and increased the lead to 19 points on Steve Heidenthal's (Clymer, Pa.) jumper with :55 to play before, going on to the 18-point win.
Tullis finished with 30 points on 12-16 shooting, and 5-7 from the free-throw line. Tullis also pulled down six rebounds. Davis added 18 points, including four three-pointers, four rebounds and five assists, while Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) collected 13 points and four rebounds. Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) rounded out the double figure scorers with 10 points. Head coach Bob Rukavina also got six points from Heidenthal and five points and five assists from William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.). With his five assists, Sharpe moved into second place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Assists List with 430.
Tullis currently ranks seventh on the Pitt-Johnstown scoring list with 1,296 points and 10th on the rebounding list with 524. Tullis is seven points away from Rich Ragan (1974-78) for sixth place on the scoring list and nine rebounds behind Davis on the rebounding list. Davis is in 10th place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List (1,935 points), ninth on the rebounding list (533 rebounds) and eighth on the all-time assist list (313 assists). Davis needs 45 points to tie Mike Gresik (1981-85) for ninth place place on the scoring list. He is also 23 rebounds shy of Carlos Cogsdell (2001-05) for eighth place on the rebounding list and 18 assists away from Joey Tutchstone (2003-06) for seventh place on the assists list. Sharpe stands in second place on the assist list with 430, 65 assists shy of Emmanuel Richardson (1996-98) for first place.
Pitt-Johnstown ended the night shooting 55.0% (33-60) from the field, 10-24 from three-point range and 11-16 from the charity stripe. The Firebirds shot 41.8% (23-55) from the field, 6-20 from three-point range and 17-21 from the free-throw line.
Kechan Myers' 29 points and game-high 10 rebounds led the way for U.D.C. Chris Leach (18 points) and Tim Ellison (16 points) also scored in double figures for the Firebirds, who fell to 7-14.
The Mountain Cats travel to Glenville State (WV) College on Saturday, before hosting a WVIAC doubleheader with the Lady Cats against West Virginia State University on Monday. 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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