John Paul Kromka's basket with under a second remaining in regulation, broke a 79-all tie and lifted the Pitt-Johnstown men's basketball team to an, 81-79, PSAC Western Division victory over visiting Gannon, Saturday afternoon in the Sports Center.  With the win, the Mountain Cats kept pace at the top of the PSAC West standings and improved to 15-4 overall and 11-2 in conference-play.
 
Pitt-Johnstown, which held the lead for over 32 minutes, found itself tied with 13 seconds to play.  With possession and :13.1 on the clock, the Mountain Cats moved the ball the length of the court and found Kromka inside.  Kromka made a move and banked a layup off the glass with less than a second remaining to give Pitt-Johnstown the victory.
 
Kromka's 22 points, eight rebounds, three assists, and game-high five blocks paced four Mountain Cat double figure scorers.  Fred Mulbah scored 17 points and dished out eight assists, while Jared Jakubick and Ryan Smith each knocked down three 2-ppionter and finished with 16 and 14 points, respectively.  Pitt-Johnstown also got nine points on a trio of 3-pointer from Drew Magestro, while Joe Batt pulled down six rebounds for the Mountain Cats.
 
Pitt-Johnstown knocked down seven of its first 10 3-pointers, including three from Magestro off the bench and a pair from Smith, to build a 35-21 lead with 8:51 left in the opening half.
 
Gannon was able to get back in it, but Mountain Cats would never trail again.   The Golden Knights battled back to knot it a 45 at the half on Ali Ragab's layup, but Pitt-Johnstown came out on a 16-5 run over the first 6:21 of the second half to rebuild the lead to 11 on Mulbah's layup and Jakubick's 3-pointer.
 
The Mountain Cats got it out to as many as 13 on free-throws from Kromka and Smith with 7:29 remaining.
 
The Golden Knights narrowed it to two on an Ike Herster fast break basket, before a pair of driving layups from Mulbah got the Pitt-Johnstown lead back out to six at 2:07.
 
Gannon was able to tie it at 79, but Kromka's layup sealed the Mountain Cats' 15^th win of the year.
 
After shooting 59.1% in the opening half, Pitt-Johnstown ended the day at 51.9% (28-54) from the floor, and an impressive 45.5% (10-22) from 3-point range.  Gannon shot 47.6% (30-63), but the Mountain Cats held the Golden Knights to just 5-17 from behind the arc.
 
Lance-Amir Paul had game-highs of 26 points and 10 rebounds, and Herster added 21 points for Gannon, which dropped to 9-6 overall and 6-5 in the PSAC West.
 
The Mountain Cats start of string of three straight PSAC West road games at California (PA) on Wednesday.  Pitt-Johnstown will return home to the Sports Center to host a conference doubleheader with the women's team against Slippery Rock on February 9 at 5:30 and 7:30 p.m.