University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown Athletics

Isaac Vescovi, Josh Wise, and Marcin Wiszomirski combined for 68 points to help the Mountain Cat men's basketball team bounce back from a season-opening loss with a 80-69 victory over Urbana (OH) University in Saturday's final round of the IUP IRMC/Hilton Garden Inn Classic.
 
Vescovi poured in a career-high 33 points and grabbed five rebounds, while Wise and Wisomirski also posted career-highs.  Wise finished with 23 points and seven rebounds, while Wiszomirski tallied 12 points and six rebounds in his second collegiate game.  Dale Clancy also had six points and game-high eight assists for the Mountain Cats.
 
The Mountain Cats jumped out to a 13-5 lead five minutes in on an Vescovi basket, before back-to-back 3-pointers by Carlas Jackson and Darius Barksdale got Urbana back to within two.
 
Pitt-Johnstown answered with a pair of 3-pointers from Wise in a 12-3 run over the next six minutes that extended the lead to 25-14 with just over seven minutes left in the half.
 
The Mountain Cats then got it out to 14 at the 5:34 mark on Wiszomirski's 3-pointer and two more of Vescovi's 21 first half points.
 
The Blue Knights cut it to four on a Malik Jacobs' basket with just under a minute to go, but Wise followed with a bucket in the paint that put Pitt-Johnstown on top 40-34 at the break.
 
Wise's jumper four minutes into the second half got the Mountain Cats' lead back into double digits, and Drew Magestro's lay-up a minute later made it 51-39.
 
Urbana got back to double-up Pitt-Johnstown, 16-8, over the next six minutes, capped by Jackson's 3-pointer, to narrow it to 59-55 with 9:24 to play.
 
That was as close as it would get.  Pitt-Johnstown bounced right back to push it out to 68-57 on Wiszomirski's basket at 6:34 and the Mountain Cats went on to the 11-point victory.
 
Pitt-Johnstown ended the evening shooting 46.7% (28-60) from the field, while holding the Blue Knights to just 39.3% (22-56) shooting.  The Mountain Cats were also 8-24 from 3-point range and 16-22 from the free-throw line.  Urbana was 8-28 from behind the 3-point line and 17-20 from the charity stripe.
 
Jacob's double-double of 20 points and 11 rebounds paced Urbana.  Mike Ryan scored 14 points and pulled down six rebounds, and Jackson had 13 points for the Blue Knights, who slipped to 0-2 to start the year.
 
The Mountain Cats will make their home debut and open PSAC-play against Bloomsburg on November 18 and East Stroudsburg on November 19.  The women's games are scheduled to tip-off at 1 p.m. in the Sports Center with the men's game to follow at 3 p.m.  Between games of the November 18 doubleheader, Pitt-Johnstown will have its new floor dedication ceremony.