Men's Basketball 6/14/2013 10:59:00 AM

Coach Rukavina Earns Win #300 and Mountain Cats secure WVIAC Regular Season Title with 83-67 Victory at Salem International

02/21/2008

Thursday proved to be a milestone night for Mountain Cat men's basketball following an 83-67 victory at Salem International (WV) University. Head Coach Bob Rukavina earned his 300th win at the helm of the program as Pitt Johnstown secured its third straight 20-win season and claimed the WVIAC regular season title in just its first year competing for conference championships. With the victory, Pitt Johnstown locked-up a first round bye in the WVIAC Tournament and improved to 20-5 overall and 17-2 in league play.
The Mountain Cats, winners of eight straight games and ranked #5 in this week's East Region rankings, jumped out to a 16-5 lead seven minutes into the game, before taking a 41-25 halftime lead. Pitt Johnstown came out in the second half and increased the lead to 51-24 with 16:07 to play. The Tigers cut the lead to 14 points at the 10:34 mark, but that was as close as they would get, as the Mountain Cats cruised to the 16-point win.
Senior forward Chris Gilliam (Baltimore, MD) poured in 24 points on 9-12 shooting from the field and 6-8 shooting from the free-throw line, and grabbed four rebounds, while junior guard Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) added 18 points and nine rebounds. Coach Rukavina also got 17 points and seven rebounds from Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) and a game-high 10 assists from William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.) in the win. Danny Branch (Washington, D.C.) chipped in nine points and Andy Byer (Tire Hill, Pa.) tallied eight points.
With his 24 points, Gilliam now has 1,643 career points and stands in second place on the Mountain Cat All-time Scoring List, 430 points away from Justin Walther (1996-2000) for the top spot. With his 4 rebounds, Gilliam remains in fourth place on the All-Time Rebounding List with 635. He is now one rebound shy of Chuck Bradford (1976-80) for third place on the rebounding list.
The Mountain Cats wrapped up the game shooting an impressive 55.4% (31-56) from the field, 38.1% (8-21) from three-point range and 86.7% (13-15) from the fre-throw line. Salem Intenational was held to just 20-51 (39.2%) for the game. the Tigers made 10 three-pointers and went 17-17 from the free-throw line. Pitt Johnstown also dominated the boards, out rebounding the Tigers, 33-21.
Curtis Dorsey scored 15 points and grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds for Salem International. Anthony King (15 points), Ricky Dunham (11 points) and Chris Carey (10 points) also scored in double figures for the Tigers, who dropped to 4-22 overall and 2-17 in the WVIAC.
Coach Rukavina took over a struggling Mountain Cat program in 1989 and turned it into one of the top teams in the country. In his 19th season, Coach Rukavina has posted a 299-209 overall record. Coach Rukavina has led Pitt Johnstown to its only two NCAA Tournament appearances. The Mountain Cats earned their first NCAA postseason berth following the 1996-97 season, before duplicating the feat the next season with a school-best 24-5 record. Thursday's win secured Coach Rukavina's sixth 20-win season.
Under Coach Rukavina, the Mountain Cats have had three players lead the NCAA in statistical categories on five different occasions. They have had five players receive accolades ranging from All-American Honorable Mention to All-East Region performers. Five former Mountain Cats have continued their basketball careers at the professional level in various countries.
In 1992, Coach Rukavina led Pitt Johnstown to its first winning season since 1979, clinching it with a win over Division I Youngstown State (OH) University. It was the first win over a Division I opponent in school history.
Prior to his arrival at Pitt Johnstown, Coach Rukavina took over at South Campus of the Community College of Allegheny County. The team was coming off a disastrous 2-22 season. Two years later, CCAC-South posted a 19-11 record and finished third in the Western Pennsylvania Collegiate Conference. The team also placed second in the NJACC Region XX Tournament, the highest in school history.
Along with the on-court coaching success, Coach Rukavina is also the East Region representative for the NABC national poll, a duty he began during the 2004-05 season. In August 2004, Coach Rukavina was selected to be an instructor with former NBA Coach of the Year Jack McKinney at the MedQuest Coaching Clinic in Beirut, Lebanon. The clinic, sponsored by the Federation of Lebanese Basketball, taught Middle Eastern basketball coaches about the game. Prior to that, Coach Rukavina coached an all-star team that traveled to Madrid and Vigo, Spain in the summer of 1998. The team won four of five games.
The Mountain Cats finish the 2007-08 regular season at Shepherd (WV) University on Saturday. Pitt Johnstown will also compete in the WVIAC Tournament that runs from February 26-March 1.

Print Friendly Version