Box Score
Jake Laravie scored a career-high 22 points and
A.J. Leahey and
Dale Clancy each added 16 points to lead the Mountain Cats to a 76-61 victory over Alderson-Broaddus (WV) University in Saturday's Second Round of the IUP/IRMC/Hilton Garden Inn Classic. Pitt-Johnstown improved to 5-2.
A pair of 3-pointers by Jordan Haywood and one from Dorrell Foster gave Alderson-Broaddus an 11-2 lead to start.
Pitt-Johnstown clawed back with a 17-7 run over the next nine minutes to take a one-point lead.
Josh Wise's 3-pointer tied it at 16, before a Clancy 3-pointer at 8:39 put the Mountain Cats in front for the first time, 19-18.
The Battlers quickly regained the lead on Chavez Harper's basket, but five straight points by Laravie gave Pitt-Johnstown a 27-24 lead with just under six minutes left in the half.
The Mountain Cats then got a 3-pointer from Laravie and a bucket from Wise to close out the half with a 36-30 advantage.
Leahey opened the second half with a 3-pointer to extend the Mountain Cat lead to nine, and Laravie knocked down another 3-pointer at 13:50 to increase it to 51-40.
Alderson-Broaddus cut it to seven with 10:49 to play on Sam Sanders' 3-pointer, but Pitt-Johnstown extended it to 63-49 on baskets from Leahey and Wise.
Clancy and Laravie went on to make six straight free-throws in the final minute to seal the 15-point victory.
Laravie ended the day with a career-high 22 points on 7-11 shooting, including 4-8 from 3-point range to lead all scorers. Clancy had 16 points and eight assists, while Leahey collected 16 points and three rebounds for Pitt-Johnstown. The Mountain Cats also got nine points, five rebounds, and four assists from Wise.
With his 16 points, Leahey moved into 17
th-place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,154 points. He also stands in fifth-place on the all-time 3-point field goals list with 186.
The Mountain Cats, who outrebounded the Battlers 34-28, shot an even 50% (26-52) from the field, while holding Alderson-Broaddus to just 39.6 (21-53). Pitt-Johnstown was 10-21 from 3-point range and made 14 of its 16 free-throws. Alderson-Broaddus was 7-21 from behind the 3-point line and 12-17 from the charity stripe.
Foster finished with 14 points, and Sanders had 13 for the Battlers, who fell to 1-5 on the season.
The Mountain Cats will host hosting doubleheaders with the Lady Cats against Kutztown on December 3 and Mansfield on December 4. The women's games will tip-off at 1 p.m. with the men's game to follow at 3 p.m.
