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University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

PITT-JOHNSTOWN MOUNTAIN CATS

Men's Basketball

Sharpe's Lay-Up with :03 lifts Mountain Cats Over East Region #10 West Virginia State

02/09/2008

First place in the WVIAC was on the line Saturday afternoon when the Mountain Cats traveled to East Region #10 West Virginia State University. William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.) penetrated through the Yellow Jacket defense and made a lay-up with :03 left to play to lift Pitt Johnstown to a 75-74 win over the Yellow Jackets, Saturday evening. The Mountain Cats, who remain in first place in the WVIAC, made it four straight wins and improved to 16-5 overall and 13-2 in conference play.
The Mountain Cats jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Sharpe's three-pointer, but that was Pitt Johnstown's lone lead in the first half. West Virginia State built a pair of six-point leads, but Pitt Johnstown battled back to tie the game on both occasions, before tailing 30-27 at halftime. The Mountain Cats regained the lead, 53-49, when Chris Gilliam (Baltimore, MD) made a free-throw and Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) followed with a three-pointer after a technical foul was called on the West Virginia State bench with 11:10 to play. The teams battled back-and forth until West Virginia's State's James Helton missed the front end of a one-and one-free-throw with :12 on the clock. Gilliam took the rebounded and dished it off the Sharpe, who dribbled through the Yellow Jacket defense and made the game winning lay-up.
Gilliam led all scorers with 28 points on 8-9 shooting from the field and 12-17 from the free-throw line. Branch added 13 points off of Head Coach Bob Rukavina's bench, while Sharpe rounded out the double figures scorers with 12 points, six rebounds and six assists. Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) chipped in nine points, and Gilliam matched Sharpe for team-high in rebounds with six.
With his 28 points, Gilliam now has 1,556 career points and stands in second place on the Mountain Cat All-time Scoring List, 517 points away from Justin Walther (1996-2000) for first place on the scoring list. With his six rebounds, Gilliam moved into fifth place on the All-Time Rebounding List with 603. He is now 11 rebounds shy of Chris Rhames (1995-98) four fourth place on the rebounding list.
The Mountain Cats wrapped up the game shooting 50.0% (26-52) from the field, 38-9% (7-18) from three-point range and 72.7% (16-22) from the charity stripe. The Yellow Jackets, who had their eight-game winning streak snapped, shot 41.9% (26-62) from the field and 34.8% (8-23) from behind the three-point line. West Virginia State was 14-16 from the free-throw line.
Tim Contee's 19 points, including five three-pointers led four West Virginia State players who scored in double figures.Kenny Carter scored 15 points and had seven rebounds, while Helton and Hensley Charles each scored 14 points for the Yellow Jackets, who fell to 14-8 overall and 12-3 in the WVIAC.
The Mountain Cats host #13 and East Region #4 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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