Mountain Cats Roll, 86-71, Over Lock Haven In First Round of Gannon Gary Miller Classic

11/24/2006

Head Coach Bob Rukavina's Mountain Cats made it three straight wins and improved to 4-1 with a convincing 86-71 win over Lock Haven University in Friday's opening round of the Gannon University Gary Miller Classic. Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) led four Mountain Cats who scored in double figures with 18 points. Pitt Johnstown will play Gannon in Saturday's Championship Game at 8:00 p.m.
Tullis shot 9-11 from the field, grabbed four rebounds and dished out three assists, while junior forward Chris Gilliam (Baltimore, MD) added 17 points and seven rebounds. Senior guard J.J. Schumacher (Castle Shannon, Pa.) finished with 11 points, five rebounds and five assists, and fellow senior guard Dwight Hines (Aliquippa, Pa.) had 10 points, four rebounds and four assists in the victory. Coach Rukavina also got nine points and seven rebounds from sophomore center Kyle Goldcamp (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and nine points from sophomore guard Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.).
After battling back and forth with Lock Haven for nearly 10 minutes, Pitt Johnstown took a 20-18 lead on Tullis' layup with 10:13 to play in the first half. The Mountain Cats never gave up that lead. Pitt Johnstown increased the lead to 32-20 with just under six minutes to play in the half, before the Eagles cut that lead to 40-38 at halftime. However, the Mountain Cats came out in the second half and led by as many as 17 points, before going on to the 15-point victory.
Pitt Johnstown continued its great shooting from the field, finishing the game shooting 58.9% (33-56), including 41.7% (5-12) from three-point range. The Mountain Cats held Lock Haven to just 41.0% (25-61) shooting, despite the Eagles hitting 10 three-pointers.
Billy Arre's game-high 21 points led the way for Lock Haven. James Chappell had 20 points and Justin Wilson chipped in 19 points for the Eagles, who dropped to 0-3 on the season.
Following this weekend's Gannon Gary Miller Classic, The Mountain Cats will travel to West Virginia Wesleyan on Tuesday, before hosting Penn State-Fayette on Monday, December 4 at 7:30 p.m. in the Sports Center.

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