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University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

PITT-JOHNSTOWN MOUNTAIN CATS

Men's Basketball

Mountain Cats Hammer Salem Int'l., 76-57

02/23/2009

Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) each scored 16 points, and the Mountain Cat basketball team build a 17-point halftime lead en route to a 76-57 victory over Salem International (WV) University, Monday night in the Sports Center. Pitt Johnstown is now 19-7 overall and 14-5 in the WVIAC.
Salem International opened up a 12-7 lead on Travis Sinclair's basket five minutes into the game. Davis' three-pointer at 10:52 capped a 12-2 Mountain Cat run and gave Pitt-Johnstown a 19-14 lead it would never give up. The Mountain Cats extended the advantage to 16 points on Patrick Grubb's (Turtle Creek, Pa.) bucket with 1:25 to play, before William Sharpe's (Johnstown, Pa.) layup at the buzzer dropped to give Pitt-Johnstown a 40-23 halftime lead.
The Tigers came out in the second half and cut the deficit to 44-36 with 13:52 to play on Demetrick Walker's three-pointer, but Pitt-Johnstown answered with a 15-3 run over the next 6:28 to build the lead up to 20 points following a Grubbs' free-throw. The Mountain Cats never looked back and built its largest lead of the game at 71-49 on Tullis' layup with 2:27 on the clock, before going on to the 19-point win.
Davis finished with 16 points on 6-10 shooting and four three-pointers, while Ionadi also collected 16 points on 5-12 shooting from the field, 2-5 from three-point range and 4-4 from the free-throw line. Tullis added 15 points, and Grubbs rounded out the double-figure scorers with 13 points and six rebounds. Head coach Bob Rukavina also got seven points and a game-high nine rebounds from Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) and six points, six rebounds and six assists from Sharpe. Andy Byer (Tire Hill, Pa.) grabbed eight rebounds.
Tullis is currently fourth on the Pitt-Johnstown scoring list with 1,442 points and eighth on the rebounding list with 567. Tullis is 48 points away from Quinn Harris (1988-92) for third place on the scoring list and six rebounds behind Davis for seventh place on the rebounding list. Davis is in seventh place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List (1,322 points), seventh on the rebounding list (573 rebounds) and seventh on the all-time assist list (341 assists). Davis needs 24 points to tie Devlin Herring (1994-98) for sixth place place on the scoring list. He is also 24 rebounds shy of Alan Young (1970-73) for sixth place on the rebounding list and 55 assists away from Tony Mazonkey (1975-79) for sixth place on the assists list. Sharpe stands in second place on the assist list with 478, 17 assists shy of Emmanuel Richardson (1996-98) for first place.
The Mountain Cats struggle a bit from the field, hitting just 42.3% (30-71), while Salem International ended the night shooting 46.0% (23-50). Pitt Johnstown was 9-22 from three-point range and 7-9 from the free-throw line. The Tigers shot 7-17 from behind the three-point line and 4-6 from the charity stripe. Pitt-Johnstown dominated on the boards by out rebounding Salem International 47-22, including holding a 26-6 advantage on the offensive end.
Chris Carey's 14 points led the way for Salem International. Walker and Sinclair each scored 12 points, and Nathan Kennedy tallied 11 points for the Tigers, who dropped to 3-26 overall and 3-16 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats will wrap-up the regular season and celebrate Senior Day and Alumni Day with a WIVAC doubleheader against Shepherd (WV) University on Saturday in the Sports Center. The Lady Cats will tip-off at 2 p.m. with the men's game to follow at 4 p.m. Saturday will also be Kid's Day. All kids eighth grade and under get in free. Pitt Johnstown will also host an opening round WVIAC Tournament game against an opponent to be determined on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m.
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