Pitt-Johnstown stayed within striking distance down the stretch, but could never quite close the gap in what was a narrow 78-71 setback to Concord in the Indiana (PA) Hilton Garden Inn Tip-Off Classic on Saturday night.
A day after Concord (2-0) knocked off No. 4 ranked Indiana (PA), the Mountain Lions received a game-high 16 points from JJ Harper to send the Mountain Cats to their second straight loss to open the season.
Junior guard Andy Zuchelli racked up a team-high 14 points on the back of a 4-for-6 performance from 3-point range. Nick Watts provided a much-needed spark off the bench with 13 points and a team-high eight rebounds. Freshman Gavin Headings was a bright spot with 12 points, five rebounds and two assists in his second career outing.
The Mountain Cats trailed by as many as 17 with a little more than nine minutes to play after a layup by Corey Boston made it 65-48. Over the next four minutes, they strung together a 12-2 run to claw within seven on a layup from Elijah Sechler.
Pitt-Johnstown later trimmed the deficit to 76-71 on freshman Vinnie Cugini's conventional three-point play with just 1:34 to go. But it was all the closer the game would get as the Mountain Lions hit a pair of free throws to extend their lead to three possessions and put it out of reach.
After Ryan Smith opened the game with a layup, Concord responded with a 17-0 run to put Mountain Cats in a hole early. But it didn't take long to right the ship with an extended 25-6 rally that included nine points off the bench from Watts, who drilled a 3-pointer to make it 25-23 with less than seven minutes remaining in the half.
Headings drilled a turnaround jumper that gave the Mountain Cats their last lead at 27-26 before the Mountain Lions went into the break with a 39-33 lead.
Pitt-Johnstown received 32 points off the bench, with Cugini and Sechler each scoring seven apiece.
The Mountain Cats will look to reset and collect their first win in their home-opener against Penn State New Kensington on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the Sports Center.
