Box Score 
A.J. Leahey scored 21 points and grabbed 10 rebounds, and Pitt-Johnstown built a 20-point second half advantage on its way to snapping a four-game losing skid with an impressive 77-59 PSAC victory over Slippery Rock, Saturday afternoon in the Sports Center. The Mountain Cats improved to 10-10 overall and 7-9 in conference-play.
Nate Snodgrass' 3-pointer at the 13:39 mark of the first half gave the Mountain cats a slim 9-6 advantage, but Pitt-Johnstown would never give up the lead the rest of the day.
Leahey's 3-pointer with 7:16 left in the first half made it 24-16, before Slippery Rock cut it to 24-22 three minutes later on a Jamal Gatali jumper.
However, the Mountain Cats outscored The Rock 10-2 the rest of the way to build a 34-24 halftime lead on two Leahey free-throws with just over a minute left.
The Mountain Cats extended the run 17-4 to start the second half and push the lead to 41-26 on
Matt Palo's lay-up.
The Rock never got closer than a dozen from that point. Pitt-Johnstown's lead ballooned as many as 20 at 51-31 on Palo's 3-pointer with 11:43 to play.
Two Antonio Butler free-throws at the 5:39 mark narrowed the gap to 13, but the Mountain Cats quickly rebuilt it to 68-51 on Vescovi's bucket at 2:07.
Pitt-Johnstown went on to hit 9 of it 12 free-throws in the final 1:42 to secure the 18-point win.
Leahey's game-highs of 21 points and 10 rebounds paced five Mountain Cats who scored in double figures. Palo had 14 points and five rebounds, and Vescovi added 13 points and eight rebounds. Pitt-Johnstown also got 11 points, six rebounds, and five assists from
Rich Audu, and 10 points from
Nate Snodgrass.
Vescovi currently ranks 10
th on the Mountain Cat All-Time Rebounding List with 594 rebounds. Vescovi is also 46 points shy of becoming Pitt-Johnstown's 26
th 1,000-point scorer.
Pitt-Johnstown shot 44.2% (23-52) from the field, but connected on 8 of its 14 3-pointers and 23 of its 28 free-throws. The Mountain Cats also held The Rock to just 34.9% (22-63) shooting, including just 1-13 from behind the 3-point line. Slippery Rock was also 14-15 from the charity stripe.
Butler's 15 points and five rebounds led the way for The Rock, which slipped to 15-7 overall and 10-6 in the PSAC Western Division.
The Mountain Cats travel to a PSAC game at Seton Hill next Saturday, before hosting a conference doubleheader with the Lady Cats against California University (PA) on February 11. The Lady Cats will tip-off against the Vulcans at 5:30 p.m. in the Sports Center, with the men's game to follow at 7:30 p.m.
