Men's Basketball 6/14/2013 10:57:00 AM

Coach Rukavina Earns Win #299 in 80-63 Senior Night Victory Over Fairmont State

02/16/2008

Chris Gilliam (Baltimore, MD) made his final game in the Sports Center a good one by collecting game-highs of 19 points and 14 rebounds, and Head Coach Bob Rukavina secured his 299th career victory at Pitt Johnstown,as the Mountain Cats celebrated Senior Night with an 80-63 victory over Fairmont State (WV) University, Saturday night. The Mountain Cats have won seven straight games and improved to 19-5 overall and remained in first place in the WVIAC with a 16-2 record. One more win, and the Mountain Cats would lock up a first round bye in the WVIAC Tournament.
Fairmont State came out and opened a 19-12 lead at the 11:42 mark of the first half. However, the Mountain Cats closed out the half on 29-14 run led by Marcus Tullis' (Johnstown, Pa.) 13 points and Gilliam's 12-points and eight rebounds to take a 41-33 halftime lead. Pitt Johnstown maintained at least a seven-point advantage throughout the entire second half, and increased the lead to 20 points, before earning the 17-point victory.
Gilliam ended his final game in the Sports Center shooting 7-13 from the field and 5-8 from the free-throw line to lead four Mountain Cats who scored in double figures. After scoring 13 points in the first half, Tullis finished with 17 points. Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) chipped 15 points off of the bench, and Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points and seven rebounds. Coach Rukavina also got seven points and a game-high nine assists from William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.) and seven points, five rebounds and four assists from Matt Ionadi (Pittsburgh, Pa.) in the win.
With his 19 points, Gilliam now has 1,619 career points and stands in second place on the Mountain Cat All-time Scoring List, 454 points away from Justin Walther (1996-2000) for the top spot. With his 14 rebounds, Gilliam remains in fourth place on the All-Time Rebounding List with 631. He is now five rebounds shy of Chuck Bradford (1976-80) for third place on the rebounding list.
The Mountain Cats shot an impressive 52.5% (32-61) from the field, while holding the Falcons to just 33.3% (23-69) from the field. Pitt Johnstown was also 6-18 from three-point range and 10-14 from the free-throw line. Fairmont State hit 10 three-pointers and was 7-9 from the charity stripe. The Mountain Cats also out rebounded the Falcons 42-35 and held a 46-24 advantage in points in the paint.
Nate Hart had 13 points and 13 rebounds to led Fairmont State. Johnstown, Pa. native Pete O'Connor added 11 points and nine rebounds, and Thad McFadden tallied 11 points for the Falcons, who dropped to 16-9 overall and 10-8 in the WVIAC.
Prior to Saturday night's tip-off, Pitt Johnstown recognized Gilliam, this year's lone senior. Gilliam currently stands in second place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List and fourth on the All-Time Rebounding List. Twice this season he has been named WVIAC Player of the Week, and three times he has been nominated for Daktronics All-America honors. Gilliam has been Pitt Johnstown leading scorer the past three seasons and the top rebounder the last two seasons.
The Mountain Cats finish the 2007-08 regular season at Salem International (WV) University on Thursday and at Shepherd (WV) University on Saturday. Pitt Johnstown will also compete in the WVIAC Tournament that runs from February 26-March 1. A date and time have not yet been determined.

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