Box Score
A.J. Leahey hit six of Pitt-Johnstown's 13 3-pointers and finished with game-highs of 26 points and 12 rebounds to lead the Mountain Cats to a 78-60 victory over Lincoln University in Saturday's second round of the IUP S&T Bank Atlantic Region Challenge.  The Mountain Cats, who also got 20 points and four rebounds from Isaac Vescovi, evened their record at 1-1.
 
Leahey, who made four 3-pointers in the first half, ended the evening 6-11 from behind the arc.
 
After falling behind by three to start, the Mountain Cats caught fire and connected on 10 of their 19 first half 3-pointers to build a 17-point halftime advantage.
 
Five straight points from Dale Clancy ignited a 19-2 Pitt-Johnstown run. Leahey hit a pair of 3-pointers and Vescovi made one to put the Mountain Cats in front 21-7 seven minutes into the game.
 
Lincoln tried to get back in it and cut it to 25-18 on a pair of 3-pointers from Jordan Watson at the 9:20 mark, but the Mountain Cats responded with a 21-8 run to break it open.  Three-pointers from Levi Masua and Josh Wise extended it 36-20, before three more of Leahey's 15 first half points made it 39-23 at 5:31.
 
Pitt-Johnstown extended its lead to 17 on Olando King, Jr.'s 3-pointer, and Vescovi's lay-up with under a minute left gave the Mountain Cats a 46-29 lead.
 
The Lions came out and narrowed the gap to 51-41 at 13:56 on a Khayyir Laws' free-throw, but back-to-back buckets from Vescovi pushed it back out to 14 two minutes later.
 
Pitt-Johnstown then got two more 3-pointers from Leahey and a pair of free-throws from Dale Clancy that made it 68-48 with 7:17 to play.
 
The Mountain Cats never let Lincoln get any closer than 13 the rest of the way and cruised to the 18-point victory.
 
Along with Leahey and Vescovi, Pitt-Johnstown also got 12 points, six rebounds, and nine assists from Clancy, and five points each from Josh Wise, Laravie, and Masua in the lopsided win.
 
Leahey moved into 22^nd-place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,052 points and into a tie with Quinton Davis (2005-09) for fifth-place on the all-time 3-point field goals list with 174.
 
Pitt-Johnstown, which scored 24 points off of 19 Lincoln turnovers, ended the day shooting 45.6% (26-57) from the field, 13-28 from 3-point range, and 13-16 from the free-throw line.  The Lions held a slim 33-31 advantage in rebounding, but shot just 40.4% (21-52) from the floor, and just 7-20 from behind the 3-point line.  Lincoln also made 11 of its 14 free-throws.
 
Watson's 13 points and Joshua Davis' 10 points and eight rebounds led the way for Lincoln, which dropped to 0-2 to begin the year.
 
The Mountain Cats make their 2016-17 home debut with a non-conference game against Carlow on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Sports Center, before opening PSAC-play at Bloomsburg on Saturday and at East Stroudsburg next Sunday.