Men's Basketball 6/14/2013 9:46:00 AM

Mountain Cats Advance into WVIAC Semis With 93-85 Win Over Glenville State

03/05/2009

Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) scored 27 points and grabbed five rebounds to lead the #4-seeded Mountain Cat basketball team to a 93-85 victory over #5-seeded Glenville State (WV) College in Thursday's WVIAC Quarterfinals in Charleston, WV. Pitt-Johnstown, 22-7, will take on #9-seeded Wheeling Jesuit (WV) University, which upset top-seeded West Virginia State University, in Friday's semifinals at 8:30 p.m.
Pitt-Johnstown climbed out to a 16-10 lead at 12:47 on Danny Branch's (Washington, D.C.) three-pointer from the top of the key, but Glenville State answered quickly with a 9-2 run over the next 1:31 to take a 20-19 lead. Tullis netted two of his first half 16 points to put the Mountain Cats back into the lead 24-23. However, the Pionners eventually buillt a 37-32 lead on Chase Groves' drive and layup with 2:54 to play, before going into the halftime break leading Pitt-Johnstown, 37-35.
The Mountain Cats outscored Glenville State 6-2 to start the second half and regain the lead 41-39 on a pair of Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) free-throws at 17:37. Pitt-Johnstown pushed the lead out to 52-46, before an 11-5 Pioneers' run knotted the score at 57 with 10:54 to play. Pitt-Johnstown took control and put the game away by outscoring Glenville State 15-0 over the next 5:43, capped by a Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) breakaway dunk. Tullis' layup at 2:28 gave Pitt-Johnstown its largest lead of the game at 80-64, before the Mountain Cats went on to the eight-point victory.
Tullis finished with 27 points on 10-14 shooting from the field and 7-10 from the free-throw line to lead four Mountain Cats who scored in double-figures. Davis had 20 points, seven rebounds and five assists, while Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) and Ionadi each scored 13 points to round out the double-figure scorers. Grubbs pulled down a team-high seven rebounds. Head coach Bob Rukavina also got eight points, six rebounds and a game-high nine assists from William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.). Branch ended the night with eight points.
With his nine assists, Sharpe became Pitt-Johnstown's all-time leader in assists with 498. Sharpe needed six assists to tie Emmanuel Richardson for the top-spot.
Tullis is currently third on the Pitt-Johnstown scoring list with 1,510 points and eighth on the rebounding list with 582. Tullis is 252 points away from Chris Gilliam (2004-08) for second place on the scoring list and eight rebounds behind Davis for seventh place on the rebounding list. Davis is in fifth place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List (1,388 points), seventh on the rebounding list (590 rebounds) and seventh on the all-time assist list (355 assists). Davis needs 102 points to tie Quinn Harris (1988-92) for fourth place on the scoring list. He is also seven rebounds shy of Alan Young (1970-73) for sixth place on the rebounding list and 41 assists away from Tony Mazonkey (1975-79) for sixth place on the assists list. Sharpe stands in first place on the assist list with 498.
The Mountain Cats shot 50.9% (29-57) from the floor, 5-16 from three-point range and 30-43 from the free-throw line. The Mountain Cats held Glenville State to 46.9% (30-64), including 10-30 from behind the three-point line. The Pioneers, who were out rebounded 39-33, were also 15-22 from the charity stripe.
Jamal Holden poured in a game-high 30 points, grabbed eight rebounds and dished out six assists to lead Glenville State. Anthony Kimble added 19 points and five rebounds, and Tryvan Leech tallied 14 points and five rebounds for the Pioneers, who ended the season with a 20-9 overall record.

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