Head Coach Bob Rukavina and his Pitt-Johnstown men's basketball team received a pair of first-place votes and has been picked to finish third in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division when the 2019-20 conference Preseason Coaches Poll was released on Thursday.

East Stroudsburg and IUP have been selected to win the Eastern and Western Division, respectively, in the 2019-20 PSAC Preseason Men's Basketball Preseason Poll.

Despite the 2018-19 squad being one of the youngest teams in Pitt-Johnstown history, Coach Rukavina, who enters his 31^st season 15 wins shy of 500 for his career, led the Mountain Cats to a 17-13 overall record and a berth in the PSAC Tournament Quarterfinals.

With four starters, including First-Team All-PSAC West seleciton Josh Wise and Second-team All-PSAC choice John Paul Kromka, and seven of the team's Top-8 players returning, this young group becomes one year older with a full season of experience under their belts.
 
Coach Rukavina, who garnered his second PSAC West Coach of the Year Award after last season, will look for Wise and Kromka, also the PSAC West Defensive Player and Freshman of the year, to lead his Mountain Cats.  Wise led four Pitt-Johnstown players who averaged 9.9 points per game or better at 17.9 ppg.  He was also second on the team behind Kromka in rebounding at 5.8 rpg, and third in assists (70), steals (37), and blocked shots (12).  Kromka led the Mountain Cats in rebounding (7.7 rpg.), field goal percentage (63.7%), and blocked shots (76). and was second on the team in scoring (14.9 ppg.), assists (80), steals (41), and free-throw percentage (80.3%).  Nationally, Kromka's 63.7% field goal percentage ranked fifth, while his 76 blocks and 2.53 blocks per game both ranked eighth.
 
Sophomore point guard Fred Mulbah and sophomore forward Caiden Landis join Wise and Kromka as returning starters.  Mulbah averaged 10.6 ppg., led the team in assists (144) and steals (43), and ranked 53^rd in NCAA Division II in assists per game at 5.1 and 64^th in total assists with 144.  Landis, who joined the starting lineup midway through his freshman season, averaged 9.9 points and was the Mountain Cats' third leading rebounder at 5.0 rpg.
 
Coach Rukavina also welcomes back a pair of experienced forwards in Adam Kline and Marcin Wiszomirski, and three sophomore guards, including Drew Magestro, the 2017-18 PSAC West Freshman of the Year, who sat out last season with an injury, Joe Batt and Jared Jakubick.