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University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

PITT-JOHNSTOWN MOUNTAIN CATS

Men's Basketball

Mountain Cats' Rally Falls Short in Loss to Seton Hill

Johnstown, PA

Box Score
Seton Hill outscored Pitt-Johnstown 37-15 over the first 15 minutes of the second half to erase halftime deficit and built a 13-point advantage of its own, before holding off the Mountain Cats for a 74-70 PSAC Western Division victory, Saturday afternoon in the Sports Center.  Matt Palo's double-double of 18 points and 11 rebounds led the way for Pitt-Johnstown, now 12-11 overall and 5-8 in the conference.
 
Bill Luther opened the game with a 3-pointer and Pitt-Johnstown never trailed the rest of the first half.
 
A.J. Leahey's bucket in the paint gave the Mountain Cats a nine-point advantage five minutes in, before an Andrew Cressler jumper pushed it into double figures at 23-12 at the 12-minutre mark.
 
Pitt-Johnstown then built the lead to as many as 13 on Palo's lay-up and free-throw with 2:45 remaining.
 
Seton Hill had the last possession of the half and took advantage of it.  Nate Perry connected for a 3-pointer as time expired to get the Griffins to within nine at 37-28 at the break.
 
Seton Hill kept the momentum and started the second half on a 23-12 run to take its first lead of the game at 51-49 on Oliver McGlade's 3-pointer from the corner.
 
Noah Davis' jumper at 5:46 bumped it up to 10, before Davis knocked down a 3-pointer on Seton Hill's next possession to make it 65-52.
 
Seton Hill held the 13-point lead until Kameron Taylor was called for a technical foul for hanging on the rim after a dunk with 4:51 left.
 
That sparked the Mountain Cats.  Pitt-Johnstown outscored Seton Hill 12-0 over the next 3:46 to cut it to on at 67-66 on Luther's 3-pointer.
 
However, the Griffins scored on their next possession and went on to made 5-of-6 free-throws in the final 35 seconds to hold on for the four-point victory.
 
Along with Palo's double-double, Luther finished with 15 points, and Ian Vescovi added 12 points and six rebounds for Pitt-Johnstown.  The Mountain Cats also got nine points and six rebounds from Paul Weatherly in the loss.
 
Luther is currently 15th on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,179 points and third on the career-3-Point Field Goals List with 251.
 
The Mountain Cats struggled shooting the ball, hitting just 37.7% (23-61) from the field and just 4-15 from 3-point range.  Pitt-Johnstown was also 20-28 from the free-throw line.  Seton Hill shot 44.8% (26-58) from the floor, 7-20 from behind the 3-point line, and 15-17 from the charity stripe.
 
Perry scored a game-high 21 points, and McGlade chipped-in 13 points to lead four Griffins who scored in double figures.
 
Seton Hill improved to 15-9 overall and 7-7 in the PSAC West.
 
The Mountain Cats travel to California (PA) for a PSAC game on Wednesday, before returning home to celebrate Senior Day with the Lady Cats against conference rival Gannon on Saturday.  The Lady Cats will tip-off at 1 p.m., followed by the men's game at 3 p.m.
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