Head Coach Bob Rukavina and his seventh-seeded Pitt-Johnstown men's basketball team will be dancing in the 2023 NCAA Division II Atlantic Region Tournament when they face second-seeded West Liberty (WV) University in Saturday's quarterfinals at the Kovalchick Center in Indiana.  Tip-off is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
 
Saturday's quarterfinals winner will advanced to Sunday's Atlantic Region Semifinals against the winner of the No. 6 East Stroudsburg/No. 3 Mercyhurst game.  The Atlantic Region Championship game is scheduled for Tuesday night.  
The Mountain Cats, whose last appearance in the NCAA Regional Tournament came in 2009 after winning the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) Tournament Championship, earned an at-large bid to this year's tournament after finishing third in the PSAC Western Division and advancing to the PSAC Men's Basketball Tournament Quarterfinals for the fourth consecutive year.
 
Pitt-Johnstown, which finished third in the PSAC Western Division in 2022-23, enters the Atlantic Region Tournament with a 20-10 overall record.  Pitt-Johnstown opened the 2023 PSAC Men's Basketball Tournament with a 77-73 victory over West No. 6 Slippery Rock last Monday in the Sports Center.  John Paul Kromka led the way with game-highs of 22 points and eight rebounds, while Andrew Shull and Jared Jakubick added 14 and 12 points respectively.  The Mountain Cats, who played without Kromka, then suffered an 86-57 setback to West No. 2 Mercyhurst in Wednesday's PSAC Quarterfinals in Erie.  Drew Magestro, who needs 22 points to become the Mountain Cats' 35^th 1,000-point scorer, netted 16 points and Andy Zuchelli tallied a dozen points to pace Pitt-Johnstown.
 
Pitt-Johnstown is led by Kromka, a three-time First-Team All-PSAC West selection and four-time PSAC West Defensive Player of the Year Award recipient.  Kromka, a 2021-22 NABC All-American, leads Pitt-Johnstown in scoring (17.3 ppg), rebounding (7.1 rpg.), field goal percentage (68.3%), blocks (72), and steals (37) and his 65 assists are fourth on the team.  Jakubick (11.1 ppg.) and Shull (10.9 ppg.), a Second-Team All-PSAC West choice and the PSAC West Freshman of the Year in 2022-23, are also scoring in double figures, while Joe Batt and Ryan Smith are adding 9.7 and 9.5 points per game, respectively.
 
West Liberty, under sixth-year Head Coach Ben Howlett, enters the tournament seeded second in the Atlantic Region with a 28-3 overall record.  The Hilltoppers, ranked fifth nationally in the NABC Coaches Poll and ninth in the D2SIDA Poll, have won 13 straight games and finished the season with a 112-82 victory over Fairmont State (WV) in Sunday's championship game of the Mountain East Conference Tournament.
 
Bryce Butler's 22.3 points and 7.8 rebounds per game lead five Hilltoppers averaging in double figures in scoring.  Malik McKinney (12.1 ppg.), Christian Montague (12.0 ppg.), Steve Cannady (11.2 ppg.), and Ben Sarson (11.1 ppg.) are also scoring in double figures.
 
Pitt-Johnstown and West Liberty, foes in the former West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC), met in West Liberty, W.Va. on Nov. 16 and the Hilltoppers came away with a 93-76 win.  Shull scored 19 points, Magestro chipped-in 15 points, and Kromka had 12 points and six boards for Pitt-Johnstown.  McKinney's game-high 24 points paced four West Liberty double figure scorers.