CALIFORNIA (Feb. 19) – Junior guard
Donald Whitehead, Jr. scored his 1,000th career point on Wednesday night, as the Vulcans earned a 91-79 victory against Pitt-Johnstown at the Convocation Center in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) West play.
NOTES
• California (16-10, 11-7) won its sixth-consecutive game while clinching a berth in next month's PSAC Tournament.
• The Vulcans hold a half-game lead for second place in the divisional standings over Edinboro, which was idle on Wednesday.
• The Mountain Cats (11-14, 7-11) are one of three teams in the PSAC West with seven victories in league play and sit a half-game back of a tie for fifth place.
• Whitehead led the team with 26 points (20 first half) on 7-of-19 from the floor and 9-of-10 from the free-throw line.
• He becomes the 38th player in program history to score 1,000 points for the Vulcans, including the sixth during the tenure of head coach
Danny Sancomb.
• Whitehead also tallied seven assists while playing all 40 minutes in the win.
• Freshman
Jordyn Buchanan tallied with 16 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals versus the Mountain Cats.
• Redshirt junior
Cam Polak finished with 18 points (all second half) behind seven-of-eight from the charity stripe after playing just four minutes in the first half due to foul trouble.
• Senior
Kadyn Hannah collected 11 points and a team-leading eight rebounds in 26 minutes.
• Sophomore
Dalman Alexander registered 10 points, three rebounds, four assists and three blocks on Wednesday.
• The Vulcans posted a 19-4 run over four minutes in the first half to build a 39-18 lead at the 8:18-mark.
• UPJ scored back-to-back baskets before being assed a technical foul that sparked a 16-4 rally by Cal to extend the lead to 19 points, 46-27, with 2:45 left before the break.
• The Vulcans took a 50-37 advantage at halftime after shooting nearly 60 percent from the floor.
• Cal opened the second half on an 11-1 run to build the lead to 61-38 with 15:47 left to play.
• The Mountain Cats worked the deficit to 12 points, 74-62, at the 7:29-mark before the Vulcans responded by scoring eight of the next 11 points.
• Cal finished the game shooting 46.8 percent (29-of-62) from the floor and converted a 78.6 clip (22-of-28) from the free-throw line.
• The Vulcans committed only eight turnovers in the win, marking their sixth game with less than 10 turnovers over the last eight games.
NEXT
• The Vulcans are idle this weekend before playing at IUP on Wednesday, Feb. 26, in PSAC West action at 7:30 p.m.
• Gannon and Cal are the lone teams in the Western Division to have secured a berth to the league tournament with the Golden Knights already having clinched the top seed.
• The remaining five seeds will be determined over the last three dates of games in the regular season.
