Pitt-Johnstown clinched the No. 3 seed in the PSAC Western Division and earned a first round conference tournament home game on Monday with an 85-73 victory over Seton Hill in Wednesday's regular season home finale in the Sports Center.
John Paul Kromka's game-highs of 20 points and 11 rebounds led four Mountain Cat double figure scorers and helped Pitt-Johnstown improve to 21-7 overall and 15-6 in the PSAC West.
Caiden Landis scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds, while
Joe Batt scored 15 points off the bench, and
Drew Magestro tallied 11 points for Pitt-Johnstown. The Mountain Cats also got eight points, six rebounds, and a career-high eight assists from
Josh Wise, eight points from
Jared Jakubick, and seven points from
Fred Mulbah.
Pitt-Johnstown jumped out to a 13-7 lead on a bucket from Landis, before the Griffins battled back to regain the lead, 24-21, on a Drew Green layup at 6:44.
However, the Mountain Cats outscored Seton Hill, 19-6, the rest of the way to build a 10-point halftime advantage. Kromka scored in the paint to get Pitt-Johnstown's lead back out to six, and Wise's basket made it 40-30 at the break.
The Mountain Cats never let the lead get under double figures the entire second half. Batt's 3-pointer, followed by Kromka's layup at the 12:40 mark increased it to 20,
before Pitt-Johnstown built its lead to 22 on three occasions, with the last coming on Jakubick's 3-pointer with 3:37 to play.
After shooting 53.6% in the opening half, Pitt-Johnstown finished the game at 48.4% (30-62). The Mountain Cats, who held a 45-32 advantage on the glass, were 7-20 from 3-point range and 18-26 from the line. Seton Hill was held to 41.9% (26-62) shooting from the floor, 7-20 from behind the arc, and 14-20 from the free-throw line.
Nathan Davis had 19 points, while Tommy Sekunda and Marrek Paola scored 13 and 12 points, respectively, for the Griffins, who dropped to 4-21 overall and 3-18 in
conference-play.
Pitt-Johnstown will close out the regular season at seventh-ranked Indiana (PA) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m., before opening the 2020 PSAC Men's Basketball Tournament with a home game in the Sports Center on Monday at 7 p.m. against Slippery Rock or Gannon.
