Pitt-Johnstown erased a 16-point first half deficit and got a 3-pointer from Jared Jakubick with :03 left in regulation to force overtime, but Le Moyne (NY) College was able to hold off the Mountain Cats 102-99 in three overtimes in Friday's First Round of the IUP Thanksgiving Classic.  Josh Wise had a game-high 27 points, seven rebounds, and five assists to lead Pitt-Johnstown, which slipped to 2-2.
 
John Paul Kromka's layup with :12 left in regulation got Pitt-Johnstown to within one at 75-74.  Malik Garner then made a pair of free-throws for Le Moyne to get the lead out to three, but Jakubick connected on a 3-pointer with :03 remaining to tie it at 77 and force overtime.
 
In the first overtime, two free-throws from Landis and a layup and free-throw from Fred Mulbah at 1:13 gave the Mountain Cats an 83-79 advantage, but the Dolphins battled back to regain the lead by one at 84-83 on Nwandu's conventional 3-point play with :34 left.
 
Mulbah tied it again five seconds later with a free-throw to force a second overtime.
 
In the second extra period, each team held a two-point lead, and Wise's basket tied at 92 to send it to a third overtime.
 
Le Moyne took control early in the final overtime and built a 99-92 lead.  Pitt-Johnstown cut it to three on Marcin Wiszomirski's basket with 1:34 to go, then to 101-99 on Wiszomirski's free-throw with :10 left, but Tim Leavell's free-throw sealed the Dolphin's 102-99 win when Romano Sebastiani's 3-pointer at the buzzer would not fall.
 
Le Moyne connected of five 3-pointers in the first five minutes to open-up a 16-point advantage.  Three-pointers from Kobi Nwandu and Tom Brown, followed by a bucket from in the paint by Nwandu at 14:39 put the Dolphins in front 21-5.
 
Jakubick's 3-pointer and a Wise jumper cut it to 11 1:39 later, but Le Moyne pushed it back out to 30-14 on a Zay Jennings layup at 9:37.
 
The Mountain Cats responded to outscore the Dolphins 24-11 the rest of the way to make it a 3-point game at the break.  Baskets from Caiden Landis and Jakubick got the deficit down to seven at 33-26 with 4:45 remaining, before Wise finished a conventional 3-point play and Landis' put-back with :54 left made it 41-38 at the half.
 
Pitt-Johnstown kept it going to start the second half and extended the run to 29-12 on Wise's jumper and Mulbah's 3-pointer to give the Mountain Cats their first lead of the game at 43-42.
 
Neither team held a lead larger than three until Jakubick's bucket at 12:17 put Pitt-Johnstown on top 55-51.
 
After Mulbah's free-throws midway through the half extended the lead to five, Le Moyne scored the next six to regain the lead 60-59.
 
The teams exchanged the lead five times over the next 2:40, but Le Moyne went back in front 70-66 on Ryan Roland's jumper at 4:09, setting up the 3-overtime thriller.
 
Wise's 27 points paced six Mountain Cats who scored in double figures.  Muhbah had 15 points and seven rebounds, while Jakubick finished with 15 points, three rebounds, and four assists, and Landis had a double-double of 14 points and 10 rebounds.  The Mountain Cats also got 10 points, seven rebounds, and six assists from Kromka and 11 points from Joe Batt.
 
Pitt-Johnstown shot 46.5% (33-71) from the field, 9-21 from 3-point range, and 24-32 from the free-throw line.  The Mountain Cats held the Dolphins to just 39.5% (30-76) shooting for the game, and 11-42 from behind the 3-point line, but Le Moyne made 31-of-34 from the charity stripe.
 
Nwandu had 26 points and seven rebounds, and Jennings tallied 23 points to lead four Dolphins who scored in double figures and helped Le Moyne improve to 4-1.
 
Pitt-Johnstown wraps-up the IUP Thanksgiving Classic against the University of the Sciences on Saturday, before returning home to host a non-conference game against Carlow on Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the Sports Center.