Josh Wise and the fourth-seeded Pitt-Johnstown men's basketball team gave top-seeded and NCAA No. 2-ranked Indiana (PA) all it could handle in Wednesday's Quarterfinals of the PSAC Tournament at the Kovalchick Complex in Indiana. However, IUP used a 16-4 second half run to build an 11-point lead and held off the Mountain Cats, 76-68.  Wise scored a game-high 24 points for Pitt-Johnstown, which ended its season at 17-13.
 
Consecutive baskets from Romano Sebastiani helped the Mountain Cats get off to a quick start an open-up a 10-3 lead, before a Dante Lombardi 3-pointer cut IUP's deficit to 12-11 six minutes into the game.
 
Pitt-Johnstown, which shot 73% from the floor in the opening half, rebuilt the lead to five on buckets from Fred Mulbah and Wise.
 
Malik Miller's 3-pointer at 8:44 knotted it at 20, but the Mountain Cats were able to regain the lead, 28-24, on Marcin Wiszomirski's lay-up.
 
IUP came back to take its first lead of the night when Lombardi hit another 3-pointer.  The Crimson Hawks then made it a five-point lead late in the half, but Wise connected from behind the arc, and Adam Kline's 3-pointer with :17 left got Pitt-Johnstown back to within two at 39-37 at the break.
 
John Paul Kromka's free-throws three minutes into the second half tied it at 41 and a Caiden Landis free-throw at 12:46 tied it at 46.
 
The Crimson Hawks scored the next five points to go in front 51-46, but two free-throws from Wise at the 9:57 mark gave the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown by one.
 
However, IUP countered with a 16-4 run over the next five minutes to take a 67-56 lead on Jacobo Diaz's dunk and a conventional 3-play from Lombardi.
 
Wise's 3-pointer with :47 remaining got the Mountain Cats as close at six at 74-68.
 
Wise finished with a game-high 24 points and seven rebounds, while Kromka had 12 points and five rebounds, and Mulbah added 10 points, five rebounds, and five assists for Pitt-Johnstown.  Wiszomirski scored seven points, and Caiden Landis chipped-in six points and five rebounds.
 
Wise will enter his senior season ranked 19^th-place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,183 career points,  48 points shy of Bill Luther (2010-14) for 18^th-place on the scoring list.
 
After shooting 73% in the first half, the Mountain Cats, who out-rebounded the Crimson Hawks, 35-30, ended the night shooting 51.0% (25-49) from the floor, 4-13, from 3-point range, and 14-18 from the free-throw line.  IUP was held to 40.9% (27-66) shooting, including 8-27 from behind the arc and 14-21 from the free-throw line.
 
Diaz's double-double of 19 points and game-high 11 rebounds paced the Crimson Hawks.  Miller had 17 points and Lombardi scored 16 points for IUP, which improved to 27-2 and advances to Saturday's PSAC Semifinals.