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University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

PITT-JOHNSTOWN MOUNTAIN CATS

Men's Basketball

Mountain Cats Fall to East Region #9 WV State

02/09/2009

Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) scored 24 points and Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added 22, but the Mountain Cats were not able to hold onto a six-point halftime lead and suffered an 81-77 loss to East Region #9 West Virginia State University, Monday night in the Sports Center. Pitt-Johnstown had its seven-game winning streak snapped and dropped to 16-5 overall and 11-3 in the WVIAC.
Matt Ionadi's (Pittsburgh, Pa.) lay-up 5:15 in gave Pitt-Johnstown a slim 8-5 lead. West Virginia State answered and outscored the Mountain Cats 24-14 over the next nine minutes to build a 29-22 lead on Ted Scott's three-pointer with 6:41 left. However, the Mountain Cats close out the first half with a run of their own. Two more of Ionadi's 19 first half points gave Pitt-Johnstown the lead back at 36-34 with just under four minutes to play, before Quinton Davis's (Pittsburgh, Pa.) free-throws with :29 closed out a 21-8 run to give Pitt-Johnstown a 43-37 halftime advantage.
Tullis' jumper to start the second half put the Mountain Cats up eight, but the Yellow Jackets used a 13-2 run to take the lead for good at 50-47 on Scott's three-pointer at 15:25. West Virginia State built the lead to seven points, but the Mountain Cats answered to narrow the deficit to 60-59 with 11:56 to play on Tullis' free-throws. That was as close at Pitt-Johnstown could get. The Yellow Jackets took their largest lead of the game at 75-63 with 5:38 left and held on for the four-point victory.
Tullis' 24 points on 9-16 shooting and 6-6 from the free-throw line led three Mountain Cats who scored in double figures. Tullis also grabbed six rebounds, while Ionadi finished with 22 points on 9-12 shooting, including four three-pointers. Davis collected 17 points, three rebounds and a game-high eight assists. Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) pulled down a game-high eight rebounds, and William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.) scored six points, grabbed three rebounds and dished out seven assists.
The Mountain Cats, who held a 38-32 rebounding advantage, shot 48.3% (29-60) from the field, 6-19 from three-point range and 13-15 from the free-throw line. West Virginia State ended the night shooting 45.3% (29-64) from the field and 50% (11-22) from behind the three-point line. The Yellow Jackets were also 12-15 from the charity stripe.
Scott's game-high 28 points led West Virginia State. Ricky Jackson added 21 points and six rebounds, and Darren Jones tallied 15 points, five rebounds and six assists to help the Yellow Jackets remain in a first place tie in the WVIAC standings with a 17-4 overall record and a 13-1 mark in league play.
The Mountain Cats travel to West Liberty State (WV) College on Thursday, before returning home to host a WVIAC doubleheader with the Lady Cats against Wheeling Jesuit (WV) University on Saturday for Breast Cancer Awareness Night. 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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