The Pitt-Johnstown men's basketball team got a test at Clarion on Saturday, but used John Paul Kromka's game-high 19 points and seven rebounds to outlast the Golden Eagles, 67-64, and give Head Coach Bob Rukavina his 499^th career victory.  The Mountain Cats made it six straight wins and improved to 14-2 overall and 8-1 in the PSAC West.
 
Joe Batt added 12 points and five rebounds off the bench, while Fred Mulbah had nine points, four rebounds, and six assists.  Jared Jakubick and Caiden Landis scored seven and six points respectively, and Marcin Wiszomirski had four points and a game-high nine rebounds for Pitt-Johnstown.
 
Pitt-Johnstown got off to a slow start and shot just 33% over the first 10 minutes to fall behind by five on an Elijah Cottrill basket.
 
The Mountain Cats recovered to knot it at 13 on two Kromka free-throws, before Wiszomirski's short jumper gave Pitt-Johnstown a 20-19 lead at 8:25.
 
A layup from Batt, followed by Josh Wise's 3-pointer at the 3:22 mark extended the lead to 30-22, but Clarion scored the final 10 points of the half, including a Kaison Branch's 3-pointer at the buzzer, to put the Golden Eagles on top, 32-30.
 
Drew Magestro's 3-pointer on Pitt-Johnstown's first possession of the second half gave the lead back to the Mountain Cats, but it remained close with the teams exchanging leads over the next nine minutes.
 
Batt's conventional 3-point play with 10:29 left sparked a 9-0 run over the next 1:37 that put Pitt-Johnstown on top 58-50 on Kromka's layup.
 
A dunk from Kromka with just over five minutes to go extended the lead into double figures, but the Golden Eagles battled back to cut it to 65-64 on Aaron Hilzendeger's jumper with under a minute.
 
Clarion had a chance to win it, but Landis forced a turnover with :03 left, and Batt hit two free-throws to preserve the three-point win.
 
After a slow shooting start, the Mountain Cats, who outrebounded the Golden Eagles 36-27, ended the day at 45.8% (27-59), 4-9 from 3-point range, and 9-11 from the free-throw line.  Clarion shot 50.9% (27-53) from the floor, 4-13 from behind the arc, and 6-10 from the charity stripe.
 
Stevan Rodriguez's 15 points and seven rebounds paced Clarion.  Branch had 11 points and six rebound, and James Price scored 10 points for the Golden Eagles, who dropped to 2-13 overall and 1-8 in the PSAC West.
 
Pitt-Johnstown starts a stretch of three straight home games with a PSAC doubleheader with the women's team against Mercyhurst, Wednesday night in the Sports Center.  The women will tip-off at 5:30 p.m. with the men's game at 7:30 p.m.  The Mountain Cats will also host conference doubleheaders against Slippery Rock on Saturday and nationally-ranked Indiana (PA) next Wednesday.