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University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

PITT-JOHNSTOWN MOUNTAIN CATS

Men's Basketball

Mountain Cats Battle Back For 74-71 Win at Wheeling Jesuit

02/07/2008

Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) nailed a three-pointer with :13 to play, before hitting four straight free-throws to help Pitt Johnstown overcome a 10-point second half deficit and 26 turnovers in a 74-71 win at Wheeling Jesuit (WV) University, Thursday night. With the win, Pitt Johnstown reamined in a first place tie in the WVIAC with a 15-5 overall record and a 12-2 conference record.
The Mountain Cats tooks a slim 32-31 halftime lead, but the Cardinals came out in the second half and opened a 44-34 lead at the 15:40. Pitt Johnstown came back to take a 59-58 lead on Danny Branch's (Washington, D.C.) three-pointer with 7:10 to play. Wheeling Jesuit regained the lead and held a 69-67 lead with time running. However, Davis connected on a three-pointer from the corner to give the Mountain Cats a 70-69 advantage with :13 left. Davis went on to make a pair of free-throws with 4.7 seconds on the clock and added two more from the charity stripe after the Cardinals were given a technical foul for taking a timeout when they didn't have any left to seal the win.
Davis finished with 13 points and a game-high seven assists, while Chris Gilliam (Baltimore, MD) added game-highs of 20 points (7-11 field goals and 6-6 ffree-throw) and nine rebounds. Head Coach Bob Rukavina, who earned his 295th victory at Pitt Johnstown, also got 12 points on four three-pointers from Branch, and ten points and six rebounds from Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.). Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) had nine points and seven rebounds, and Andy Byer (Johnstown, Pa.) chipped in eight points off of the bench in the win.
With his 20 points, Gilliam now has 1,528 career points and stands in second place on the Mountain Cat All-time Scoring List, 545 points away from Justin Walther (1996-2000) for first place on the scoring list. With his nine rebounds, Gilliam is tied with Alan Young (1970-73) for fifth place on the All-Time Rebounding List with 597.
Both teams shot the ball well from the field. Pitt Johnstown finished at 52.9% (27-51) and 44.4% (8-18) from three-point range, while the Cardinals shot 50.0% (28-56) from the field and 40.7% (11-27) from behind the three-point line. The Mountain Cats also got the job done from the free-throw line by making 12 of 13. Wheeling Jesuit was just 4-7 from the line.
Duane Compo and Maqsood Harrington each scored 15 points and Adam McFerran had 13 points in a losing cause for the Cardinals, who fell to 10-11 overall and 5-9 in conference play.
The Mountain Cats travel to WVIAC co-leader West Virginia State University on Saturday, before returning home to host #13 and fellow WVIAC co-leader West Liberty State (WV) College on Monday, as part of a WVIAC doubleheader with the Lady Cats. The Lady Cats will play West Liberty State at 5:30 p.m., with the men's game to follow at 7:30 p.m.
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