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Box Score
CALIFORNIA (Feb. 19) – Led by five players in double-figures, the Vulcans kept their Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Tournament hopes alive with a 74-67 win over Pitt-Johnstown Wednesday night on Senior Day at the Convocation Center.
The Vulcans improve to 10-15 overall and 5-10 in the PSAC West. The Vulcans now need Gannon to defeat Pitt-Johnstown this Saturday and need to win their remaining game against Seton Hill next Wednesday. The Vulcans would hold a tiebreaker with their win earlier this season over league-leader Gannon. Meanwhile, the Mountain Cats fall to 5-9 in PSAC West play and 12-12 overall.
Junior
Alonzo Murphy (Pittsburgh, Pa./Imani Christian Academy) registered a double-double with team highs of 18 points and 10 rebounds, while junior
Tynell Fortune (Harlem, N.Y./Pocono Mountain West (Pa.)) finished with 14 points and five assists. Senior
Chris Williams (Philadelphia, Pa./Bishop McDevitt) tallied 13 points, freshman
Drew Cook (Beaver Falls, Pa./Beaver Falls) totaled 11 points and junior
Arman Marks (Louisville, Ky./Eastern) chipped in 10 points in the win.
Pitt-Johnstown opened the game with eight-unanswered in the first three-plus minutes of the game. Cal U battled back to within five at 13-8 thanks to a basket-and-one by Cook with 15:29 left in the first half. The Mountain Cats extended their lead to 21-11 with 11:56 remaining until halftime, but the Vulcans mounted a 19-7 lead to take a 30-28 lead with 2:04 left in the first half. UPJ committed seven turnovers during the run, while the Vulcans shot 6-of-12 from the field and drained a pair of shots from long range. Cal U could not hold on to the lead for long, as the Mountain Cats closed out the half with seven-unanswered to take a 35-30 lead into the break.
Cal U came out of the locker rooms on an 11-2 run to take a 41-37 lead with 17:08 remaining in the game and force a UPJ timeout. The Mountain Cats responded with a 10-4 run of their own to take a 47-45 lead with 13:07 left in regulation. The Vulcans fell behind by two possessions before a 13-3 run, capped off by a fastbreak dunk by Williams gave Cal U its largest lead of the game at 65-59 with 4:15 remaining in the game. UPJ battled back to within four with 1:27 left in the contest, but after running the shot clock down sophomore
Jake Jacubec (Struthers, Ohio/Struthers) drained a baseline jumper to put the Vulcans up 69-63 with 49 seconds remaining in the game. Pitt-Johnstown responded with a three-pointer with 37 seconds left to trim the Cal U lead to 71-67, but the Vulcans drained five-of-six attempts from the charity stripe in the final 30 seconds of the game to pick up the important win.
The teams combined to hit 13 three-pointers with the Mountain Cats hitting eight of their 19 attempts (42 percent) and the Vulcans only draining 5-of-18 attempts (27 percent).
Despite being out-shot and out-rebounded, the Vulcans committed just three turnovers compared to the 16 turnovers by the Mountain Cats. UPJ shot 56 percent (27-of-48) from the field compared to the 46 percent (27-of-58) posted by Cal U and the Vulcans were out-rebounded 33-24 by the Mountain Cats.
Pitt-Johnstown senior Bill Luther led all scorers with a game-best 26 points and converted five-of-nine attempts from beyond the arc.
Williams, the team's lone senior, was honored prior to the start of the game for his contributions to the program.
The Vulcans have the weekend off before they head to Greensburg on Wednesday, Feb. 26, when they take on Seton Hill to conclude the 2013-14 regular season. The opening-tip is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
