Box Score
A.J. Leahey and Nate Snodgrass led Pitt-Johnstown to an 86-72 victory over PSAC West Division opponent Seton Hill University as both contributed a team-high 18 points Saturday afternoon in the Pitt-Johnstown Sports Center.
 
Leahey also added nine rebounds and two steals while Snodgrass tallied six assists and four steals for the Mountain Cats, who advanced to 13-7 overall and 9-6 in conference play with the win.
 
Leahey also made two of four three-point shot attempts, which gives him sole possession of 10^th on the Mountain Cats All-Time Three-Point Field Goals list. He now is 12 three-pointers shy of tying Paul Byer (2002-05) for ninth place on the list.
 
The Mountain Cats were down 4-3 after 1:10 of play to start the game, but a three-pointer from Dale Clancy at 18:19 and 16:51 put Pitt-Johnstown ahead, 9-4. After Seton Hill's Trevor Blondin answered with a layup at the 16:03 mark in the half, Clancy drained another three-pointer 23 seconds later to give UPJ a 12-6 lead.
 
Clancy's shot kicked off an eight-point run that led Pitt-Johnstown to an 18-6 advantage almost six minutes into the game thanks to a jumper and layup from Snodgrass and layup from Isaac Vescovi. By the 10:39 mark, Pitt-Johnstown had a 25-12 lead after another jumper from Snodgrass, but Seton Hill did not roll over just yet.
 
Clancy finished the game with 16 points, six rebounds and four assists while Vescovi added 11 points, five assists and three rebounds.
 
The Griffins then went on a 13-2 run that was capped off by a layup from Kameron Taylor to put Seton Hill within two points of the lead, 27-25 with six minutes until halftime remaining. Pitt-Johnstown was able to turn the tables, however, by outscoring the Griffins, 16-4 in the last six minutes of the half to build a 43-29 halftime advantage.
 
4:26 into the second half, Jake Laravie contributed a three-pointer and a layup 33 seconds later to give to the Mountain Cats its first 20-point lead of the game, leading 55-35. Laravie finished the game with nine points.
 
Throughout the rest of the game, the point differential did not drop lower than 14 points. That was until the 6:17 second half mark when Blondin hit a three-pointer to make the score 72-59, still in favor of Pitt-Johnstown.
 
Two free throws by Blondin with 5:29 left to play cut the Mountain Cat lead to 12 points. A layup from Noah Davis 25 seconds later put the Griffins within 10 points of the lead.
 
Seven points from Leahey and six points from Snodgrass in the last seven minutes aided the Mountain Cats in securing a double-digit victory as a three-pointer from Leahey and a jumper from Snodgrass stretched Pitt-Johnstown's lead to 13 points, 78-65 with 3:42 left to play.
 
Blondin recorded a game-high 27 points along with four assists and four steals for Seton Hill, who fall to 8-12 overall and 6-10 in conference competition with the loss.
 
The Mountain Cats are to travel to California University (Pa.) Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. in a doubleheader with the Lady Cats before hosting Gannon University Feb. 6 at 3 p.m. and Edinboro University Feb. 10 at 7:30 p.m. Both games are to be a part of doubleheaders with the Lady Cats in the Pitt-Johnstown Sports Center.