Mountain Cats Defeat Seton Hill in First Round of East Stroudsburg Rotary Classic

12/08/2006

Senior guard Dwight Hines (Aliquippa, Pa.) scored 14 points to lead a balanced Pitt Johnstown attack in a 73-64 win over Seton Hill University in the opening round of the 2006 East Stroudsburg Panaia-Soloway Rotary Pocono Classic on Friday. Pitt Johnstown will take on the winner of the Penn State-Harrisburg/East Stroudsburg match-up in Saturday's championship game at 8:00 p.m. The Mountain Cats improved to 7-2.
Hines had 14 points on 5-10 shooting from the field, including a pair of three-pointers and two free-throws to lead four Pitt Johnstown players who scored in double figures. Junior forward Chris Gilliam (Baltimore, MD) and sophomore guard William Sharpe (Johnstown, Pa.) each had 13 points, while sophomore forward Marcus Tullis (Johnstown, Pa.) rounded out the double-figure scorers with 10 points on 5-5 shooting. Tullis also grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and blocked two shots. Sharpe connected on 4-5 from from three-point range and Gilliam grabbed six rebounds. Head Coach Bob Rukavina also got seven points from sophomore guard Quinton Davis (Pittsburgh, Pa.) and six points and six rebounds from sophomore center Kyle Goldcamp (Pittsburgh, Pa.) in the victory.
The Mountain Cats jumped out to a 38-23 halftime lead on 55.6% (15-27) shooting in the first half, before Seton Hill cut the lead to 66-58 with 2:57 to play. However, that was as close as the Griffins would get.
Pitt Johnstown finished the game shooting 59.2% (29-49) from the field, 44.4% (8-18) from behind the three-point line and 77.8% (7-9) from the free-throw line. The Mountain Cats held Seton Hill to 26-60 (43.3%) shooting for the game and 5-21 (23.8%) from three-point range. Pitt Johnstown also dominated on the glass, out rebounding the Griffins, 38-20.
Mateja Dicic's 18 points and five rebounds led the way for Seton Hill. Marcus Thompson (17 points, 5 rebounds) and Emmanuel Jackson (12 points) also scored in double figures for the Griffins, now 2-5 on the season.
Following the East Stroudsburg Tournament, the Mountain Cats will break for finals and the holiday season, before traveling to the Wheeling Jusuit University Tournament on December 29-30. Pitt Johnstown will take on West Liberty State (WV) College on December 29 and Wheeling Jesuit on December 30.

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