Joe Batt drained a 3-pointer with under two seconds to play to erase a one-point deficit and give the Pitt-Johnstown an 82-81 PSAC over Gannon, Monday night in the Sports Center. The Mountain Cats, ranked sixth in the D2SIDA Atlantic Region Poll, won its fourth straight game and improved to 12-2 overall and 6-1 in the PSAC Western Division. The win also gave Coach
Bob Rukavina his 597
th career victory.
After Victor Olawoye hit one-of-two from the free-throw line with 15 seconds remaining to give Gannon a one-point lead,
John Paul Kromka took the rebound off the miss free-throw and
Fred Mulbah found Batt, who knocked down the game-winner with time running out. Gannon was able to inbound with 1.6 seconds left, but never got a shot off, and the Mountain Cats were able to hold on for the tight victory.
Josh Wise scored 16 points on 8-13 shooting to lead the Mountain Cats. Kromka had 13 points, seven rebounds, and a pair of blocks, and Batt finished with 10 points, three rebounds, and three assists.
Jared Jakubick scored nine points, while Mulbah had seven points, six rebounds, and a game-high 10 assists.
Caiden Landis also had seven points and five rebounds for Pitt-Johnstown.
Wise's jumper with 8:23 left in the opening half put Pitt-Johnstown up by eight at 26-28, but Gannon clawed back to make it 40-39 at the break on a Frank Webb, Jr. 3-pointer.
Webb's layup to begin the second half gave the Golden Knights their first lead of the night, before Gannon pushed the lead to 63-54 on a pair of free-throws from Webb at the 11:29 mark. Pitt-Johnstown battled back to retake the lead 67-66 on Batt's 3-pointer at 7:18 and neither team held a lead larger than four the rest of the way.
Pitt-Johnstown, which held a 35-30 advantage on the glass, shot 50.0% (29-58) from the floor, 8-18 from 3-point range, and 16-20 from the charity stripe. Gannon shot 50.9% (29-57) from the field and 10-14 from behind the arc. However, the Golden Knights were just 13-23 from the charity stripe.
Webb's game-highs of 27 points and nine rebounds, and Deante Cisero's 16 points led the way for Gannon, which fell to 5-6 overall and 4-3 in the PSAC West.
Pitt-Johnstown hits the road for PSAC games at Edinboro on Wednesday and Clarion on Saturday, before returning home to host a conference doubleheader with the women's team against Mercyhurst on January 15.