Isaac Vescovi's 31 point outburst led the Pitt-Johnstown Mountain Cats past Slippery Rock, 88-85 in overtime Wednesday night at the Rich Ragan Family Court at the Pitt-Johnstown Sports Center. The Mountain Cats improved to 8-8 overall and 6-6 in the PSAC West. Slippery Rock fell to 14-4 overall and 8-4 in the PSAC West.

Slippery Rock jumped out to an early, 4-0 lead with 19:01 remaining when Micah Till hit a jumper in the corner. The Mountain Cats responded to take the lead, 5-4, when Orlando King, Jr. found an open Isaac Vescovi. It was a one-possession game, until Christal Malulu scored on a hook shot in the paint to make it, 26-21 Slippery Rock with 6:18 remaining in the first half.
Late in the first half Clancy found Masua in the pain to cut into Slippery Rock's lead and make it 31-26. Slippery Rock extended their lead, 38-28 when Tony Gates hit a corner 3-pointer, followed by a Bruce Spurell layup and then a Malulu layup. With 2:45 remaining in the first half, Drew Magestro found Josh Wise at the top of the key to chip into Slippery Rock's lead and
make it 38-31.

The Mountain Cats opened up the second half on a 10-2 run, fueled by a Vescovi jumper and Clancy layup to make it, 43-41, Slippery Rock. Slippery Rock answered and pushed their lead to 55-47, with an Aaron McDonald layup.

Pitt-Johnstown got it down to a four-point deficit when Clancy hit an open-corner 3-pointer to make it, 58-54 with 12:02 remaining in the game. From there the two teams traded buckets until a Vescovi layup and a Wise Jumper that cut Slippery Rocks lead to two points, 62-60 with 8:44 remaining.

Slippery Rock opened their lead back up to six points on a Till layup with 6:36 remaining. Vescovi got the Mountain Cats within two points again after back-to-back jumpers, to make it 66-64. Spruell knocked down a pair of free throws then Vescovi answered with another layup to keep the Mountain Cats within two.
With 56 seconds to play and the Mountain Cats down 68-66, Clancy forced a Slippery Rock turnover to give the Mountain Cats a chance to tie it or take the lead but they could not convert.

 A Masua foul sent Merdic Green to the free-throw line where he converted on both attempts to make it 70-66. Masua answered with a layup to make it 70-68 with 21 seconds remaining. After a Magestro foul, McDonald missed the front end of the 1 and 1. Clancy drove into the lane with 11 seconds remaining, was fouled, and converted two free throws to tie it at 70.
Slippery Rocks Spruell was fouled driving into the lane with 1.8 seconds remaining. Spruell could not convert the two free throws and the game went into overtime.

Wise started the scoring in overtime hitting a jump shot to give the Mountain Cats their first lead since the 9:37 mark of the first half. Slippery Rock regained the lead after a Brandon Simmons and-1 opportunity, to make it 73-72.

After a Josh Wise free throw to tie it up, Vescovi hit a mid-range jumper then a 3-pointer to give the Mountain Cats an 80-75 lead, with 1:28 remaining in overtime.  After Clancy free throws that extended the Pitt-Johnstown lead to 84-77, Till knocked down a 3-pointer with 32 seconds remaining. After Vescovi split a pair of free throws, Till hit another 3-pointer to make it 85-83 with 18 seconds remaining.

Pitt-Johnstown and Slippery Rock traded buckets to make it, 87-85, before Dale Clancy closed the game out at the free-throw line.

The Mountain Cats saw four players in double-digit scoring. Behind Vescovi's 31 points, Clancy added 23 points and seven assists. Wise added 20 points and Masua chipped in 11. Slippery Rock's balanced scoring was led by Till who had 21 points, Simmons added 16 and Green chipped in 15.

The Mountain Cats shot 48.5% (32-66) from the field and 38.9% (7-18) from behind the arc. Slippery Rock finished from the field at 44.4 (36-81) and 20.8% (5-24) from 3-point territory.

The Mountain Cats will travel to Seton Hill Saturday to take on the Griffins before, hosting the West Chester University Golden Rams Wednesday night.