Pitt-Johnstown built a double-digit lead in the first half only to see it gradually evaporate throughout a challenging stretch where turnovers became a significant deciding factor in an 84-74 setback to Clarion on Wednesday night.
Despite outshooting and outrebounding the Golden Eagles, the Mountain Cats dropped to 5-9 (3-5 PSAC).
Junior guard Andy Zuchelli connected on a season-high six 3-pointers and finished 11 of 20 from the field to chalk up a career-high 28 points. He also contributed five assists and two steals. Freshman Gavin Headings secured his fourth career double-double with 16 points and a career-best 17 rebounds. They were the only two Mountain Cats to reach double figures.
Pitt-Johnstown carried an 8-point advantage into the final minute of the first half when Zuchelli drilled a 3-pointer to make it 37-29. Despite back-to-back Clarion buckets, the Mountain Cats took a 37-33 lead into the break.
Freshman Vinnie Cugini recorded the first points of the second half, but the Golden Eagles flipped the script during a five-minute stretch where they forced five turnovers and outscored the Mountain Cats 14-2 to go up 47-41.
Headings cut it to 49-45 on a layup, but Clarion forced four turnovers and received three triples from Jahmari Hamilton-Brown in the three minutes that followed to construct what ended up being an insurmountable 58-45 advantage. The Golden Eagles took their largest lead at 71-50 with five minutes to play on a 3-pointer by Justin Easter.
The Mountain Cats finished 43% (31 of 72) from the field, while the Golden Eagles shot 41.7% (30 of 72). Clarion hit 11 of its 34 (32.4%) attempts from deep and 13 of 16 free-throw attempts. Pitt-Johnstown held a 48-39 advantage in the rebounding department, but ultimately could not overcome 18 turnovers, 12 coming in the second half.
Hamilton-Brown and Jayson Harris each collected a team-high 14 points for the Golden Eagles, who improved to 6-8 (4-4 PSAC).
The Mountain Cats travel to Edinboro on Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip-off from McComb Fieldhouse.
