Josh Wise scored a game-high 16 points and grabbed six rebounds to lead three Pitt-Johnstown players who scored in double figures, but Pitt opened-up up a 20-point halftime lead and dealt the Mountain Cats a 78-59 Exhibition loss, Thursday night at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh.
 
Three pointers from Wise and Fred Mulbah gave Pitt-Johnstown an early three-point lead, but the Panthers answered with a 12-0 run to go up 19-10 on Sidy N'Dir's dunk with 11:21 left in the opening half.
 
Another basket from Wise and one from Caiden Landis got the Mountain Cats back to with five, before Pitt began to take control.  The Panthers went on to outscore Pitt-Johnstown, 25-10, over the final 9:17 to build a 20-point halftime advantage.
 
Four straight points by Au'Diese Toney and a 3-pointer from Jared Wilson-Frame extended Pitt's lead to 25-19 at 4:17.  After Jared Jakubick hit a 3-pointer for the Mountain Cats to get the deficit back down to 13, Pitt scored nine of the final 11 points, including another Wilson-Frame 3-pointer, to take a 44-24 lead into the halftime break.
 
The Panthers got a bucket from Xavier Johnson to begin the second half and get then lead out to 24, but the Mountain Cats, who outscored the Panthers by one in the second half, continued to battle and pulled to within 17 at 50-33 at 15:54 on Wise's 3-pointer.
 
However, that was as close as Pitt-Johnstown could get.  Trey McGowens' dunk and Wilson-Frame's 3-pointer at the 8:06 mark pushed it out to 69-40, and the Panthers went on to the 19 victory.
 
Along with Wise, Marcin Wiszomirski scored 13 points and pulled down six rebounds, and Mulbah had 12 points and five assists to lead the Mountain Cats.  Pitt-Johnstown also got five points apiece from Olando King, Jr. and Jared Jakubick.
 
The Mountain Cats, who had just one less rebound than the Panthers (35-34), shot 39.3% (24-61) from the floor, 6-15 from 3-point range, and 5-6 from the charity stripe.  Pitt ended the night shooting 51.7% (30-58), 9-25 from behind the 3-point line, and 9-19 from the free-throw line.
 
Malik Ellison, Johnson, and Wilson-Frame all scored 14 points, and McGowens added 10 points to pace the Panthers.
 
Pitt-Johnstown tips off the 2018-19 season at the Indiana (PA) Classic against Virginia State and Concord (WV) on November 9 and 10, before making their home debut with a non-conference game against Penn State-Fayette on November 17 at 2 p.m. in the Sports Center.