Pitt-Johnstown pieced together a valiant second-half effort but could never quite make up the difference down the stretch in what became an 85-70 loss to Seton Hill on Monday night at the McKenna Center. The Mountain Cats dropped to 5-15 overall and 3-11 in the PSAC West.

Andy Zuchelli connected on five 3-pointers and secured a game-high 20 points to pair with three rebounds and three steals. The junior guard has now recorded at least 20 points in three out of his last four games.

Ryan Smith contributed 16 points, four boards, and four assists. Will Kromka had 11 points and six rebounds, while Gavin Headings supplied 10 points.

There was a sense of urgency out of the gates that helped the Mountain Cats mount a 15-11 advantage on the back of a personal 7-0 run courtesy of Zuchelli that included a rare four-point play.  The Griffins later cut it to 26-24 on Caleb Whitaker's layup, but Kromka responded with a layup and a 3-pointer to give the Mountain Cats a 31-24 lead with 5:42 remaining in the first half, their largest of the night.

Five straight points by Seton Hill in the final 21 seconds sent Pitt-Johnstown into the locker room trailing 39-38. The Griffins seized the lead for good out of halftime after Dimitri Sklavenitis and Ryan Meis each drained a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 45-38.

Pitt-Johnstown scratched to within one possession on two separate occasions midway through the half. Zuchelli hit a jumper that made it 56-54 and less than a minute later Kromka went 1-for-2 at the free throw line to cut it to 58-55 with less than 10 minutes to play. It was the closest the Mountain Cats got to tying it.

Seton Hill scored seven of the next 10 points and never looked back on its way to closing the game on a 13-5 spurt to set the final.

The Mountain Cats notched 19 assists on 25 made field goals and finished 47.2% from the floor and 52.4% (11-for-21) from distance. The Griffins hit 14 3-pointers of their own and constructed a 35-26 advantage on the glass.

Meis drilled five 3-pointers to conclude with a team-high 16 points for Seton Hill, which improved to 12-7 (7-6 PSAC West).

Pitt-Johnstown welcomes Mercyhurst to the Sports Center on Saturday for a 3 p.m. tip-off.