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at Shepherd (WV) University - 02/15/12

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ATH10_209_NovakN_TNovak Scores 25 in Mountain Cats' Win at Shepherd
     02/15/12... (Box Score) Nick Novak (Murrysville, Pa.) scored 25 points, and Patrick Grubbs (Turtle Creek, Pa.) added 14 points and eight rebounds to move to within five rebounds of the Pitt-Johnstown record, as the Mountain Cats turned an 11-point halftime advantage into an 89-77 WVIAC victory at Shepherd (WV) University on Wednesday.  The Mountain Cats snapped their three-game losing skid and improved to 13-11 overall and 11-8 in conference-play.
     After Shepherd opened-up a 12-5 lead four minutes into the game on a bucket by Brantley Osborne, Jordan Miller (Vinco, Pa.) scored the next 10 Mountain Cat points to knot it at 15.
     Pitt-Johnstown fell behind by three with just over 11 minutes in the half, but responded with an 8-0 spurt, capped by Novak and Ian Vescovi (Patton, Pa.) short jumpers, to go up 27-22.
     A Kirk Hairston free-throw got the Rams to within one at 29-28 at 5:20, before consecutive baskets by Novak gave the Mountain Cats a 35-28 lead 1:25 later.
     Pitt-Johnstown, which shot 68% in the half, pushed it out to a 42-31 halftime advantage on Bill Luther's (Gibsonia, Pa.) 3-pointer with under a minute to go and another Novak jumper as time expired.
     The Mountain Cats maintained control in the second half and pushed it out to 51-38 with Luther's basket at 14:23.
     Malik Dauda followed with a 3-pointer for the Rams to get the deficit back down to 10, but Grubbs extended it to 64-49 with 9:34 to play.
     The Rams tried to get back in it with a 9-2 run, capped by two Chad Moore free-throws, over thenext three minutes, to pull to within eight, but that's as close as it would get.
     Pitt-Johnstown bult the lead to as many as 17 with 3:19 left, before coasting to the 12-point win.
     Novak led four Mountain Cats who scored in double figures with 25 points, six rebounds, and four assists.  Miller finished with 21 points, including 5-6 from 3-point range, and five rebounds, while Luther had Grubbs netted 14 points apiece.
     Grubbs stands in third-place on the Mountain Cat All-Time Scoring List with 1,673 points and second on the all-time rebounding list with 940 rebounds, just five shy of Don Elzer for the Pitt-Johnstown record.  Novak is 10th on the scoring list with 1,314 points and eighth on the assists list with 365, while Miller is second on the all-time 3-point field goal list with 200 and 70 points shy of becoming Pitt-Johnstown's 24th 1,000-point scorer.  Miller also needs nine 3-pointers to tie Josue Nieves' school-record of 89 in a season set in 1999-00.
     Pitt-Johnstown ended the night shooting 67.3% (33-49) from the floor, 7-10 from 3-point range, and 16-23 from the free-throw line, while holding the Rams to just 35.3% (24-68) shooting, including 10-29 from behind the 3-point line.  Shepherd was also 19-23 from the charity stripe.
     Moore's game-high 26 points led the Rams, who dropped to 12-12 overall and 10-10 in the WVIAC.
     The Mountain Cats wrap-up a stretch of four straight WVIAC road games at West Virginia State on Saturday and at West Virginia Wesleyan on Wednesday, before returning home to celebrate Senior Day and close out the regular season with a conference doubleheader with the Lady Cats against Seton Hill on Saturday, Feb. 25.  The Lady Cats will tip-off at 1 p.m. with the men's game at 3 p.m.


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