Box Score
Clarion battled back from 11-point deficits in each half to hand the Mountain Cats an 82-77 PSAC road loss on Wednesday.  Matt Palo scored a game-high 20 to lead four Pitt-Johnstown players who scored in double figures.  The Mountain Cats dropped their fourth straight game and slipped to 9-10 overall and 6-9 in the PSAC West.
 
Palo and A.J. Leahey combined for 14 early points to help the Mountain Cats run out to an 11-point lead nine minutes into the game.
 
A pair of 3-pointers from Leahey put Pitt-Johnstown up by four, and Dale Clancy connected for three to increase it to nine.  Palo then scored off a Clarion turnover to give the Mountain Cats a 21-10 advantage with 10:56 left in the half.
 
The Golden Eagles came back with a 14-4 run over the next three minutes to cut it to 25-24 on a Justin Grant 3-pointer, but Nate Snodgrass made two 3-pointers for the Mountain Cats that rebuilt the lead to 37-27 with 4:16 left.
 
After two straight buckets from Clarion narrowed it to four, Pitt-Johnstown pushed it back out to eight, before the Golden Eagles connected on four free-throws in the final 24 seconds to make it 46-42 at the half.
 
Like the first half, Pitt-Johnstown opened the second half hot.  Leahey knocked down two more 3-pointers, and Snodgrass made a free-throw at the 16-minute mark that made it 55-44 and matched the Mountain Cats' 11-point lead to start the game.
 
Clarion followed with a 20-7 run of its own to take its first lead of the night at 64-62 on a Darius Stevens lay-up and free-throw with 9:45 to play.
 
It stayed close the rest of the way.  Ian Vescovi put the Mountain Cats back on top by four, but seven straight points from the Golden Eagles made it 71-68 at the 4:31 mark.
 
Snodgrass' 3-pointer on Pitt-Johnstown's next possession tied it at 71, until seven more unanswered points from Clarion, including five consecutive points from Darius Stevens gave the Golden Eagles a 78-71 advantage with 3:01 left.
 
Pitt-Johnstown got it down to 78-75 on Leahey's basket with 1:31 remaining, but Rob Agurs hit four free-throws in the final 16 seconds to seal the Clarion victory.
 
Palo finished with game-highs of 20 points, eight rebounds and seven assists, while Leahey added 19 points and seven rebounds for Pitt-Johnstown.  Snodgrass had 15 points, and Vescovi collected 12 points and six rebounds.  Clancy also had seven points for the Mountain cats in the loss.
 
Vescovi had six rebounds and currently ranks 10^th on the Mountain Cat All-Time Rebounding List with 586 rebounds.  Vescovi is also 59 points shy of becoming Pitt-Johnstown's 26^th 1,000-point scorer.
 
Pitt-Johnstown ended the night shooting 47.4% (27-57) from the field, an impressive 10-19 from 3-point range, and 13-17 from the free-throw line.  The Golden Eagles shot 52.7% (29-55) from the floor, 7-14 from behind the 3-point line, and 17-21 from the charity stripe.
 
Stevens had 16 points and Grant chipped-in 14 points to help Clarion snap a six-game losing streak and improve to 7-11 overall and 5-10 in the PSAC Western Division.
 
The Mountain Cats host a PSAC doubleheader with the Lady Cats against Slippery Rock on Saturday in the Sports Center.  The women's game will tip-off at 1 p.m., followed by the men's game at 3 p.m.  Pitt-Johnstown will then travel to a conference game at Seton Hill on February 7.