Pitt Johnstown Downs Wheeling Jesuit, 67-55

Charleston, WV, March 7,2009--Quinton Davis poured in a game-high 22 points and grabbed seven rebounds to help #4-seeded Pitt Johnstown advance to the WVIAC Championship game with a 67-55 win over #9 seeded Wheeling Jesuit, Friday night at the Charleston Civic Center.  The Mountain Cats, now 23-7, will take on #2-seeded Alderson-Broaddus in Saturday's title game at 8:30 p.m.

Pitt-Johnstown and Alderson-Broaddus met in last year's WVIAC championship game, and the Battlers came away with a 71-64 win.  Saturday's rematch will be the first since 2002-03 contests between Alderson-Broaddus and the University of Charleston.

Davis' jumper 8:00 into the game gave Pitt-Johnstown a 17-6 lead, but Wheeling Jesuit answered with a 19-7 run, highlighted by 15 points from Cedric Harris, to put the Cardinals in the lead 25-24 with 6:26 left in the half.  The Mountain Cats recovered to rebuilt the lead to 36-32 on Matt Ionadi's three-pointer with 1:39 left.  Davis' long-range jumper with under :10 rimmed out and Pitt-Johnstown held on to the four-point halftime lead.

The Mountain Cats scored the first four points of the second half to double the halftime advantage.  Wheeling Jesuit cut it to three on Obi Ukwuoma basket at 15:24, before Pitt-Johnstown pushed it back out to eight points at 51-43 on Davis's layup and free-throw with 10:42 to play.  Once again, the Cardinals were able to cut the deficit to three, but Davis' three-pointer from the corner at 5:47 ended the run and started a 10-1 Mountain Cat burst to give Pitt-Johnstown a 63-50 lead with 3:15 to play.  After Wheeling Jesuit narrowed the gap to 63-55 with 2:10 on the clock, the Mountain Cats hit 4-6 from the free-throw line down the stretch to seal the 12-point victory.

Davis scored 22 points on 8-13 shooting from the field, 3-7 from three-point range and 3-5 from the free-throw line to lead three Mountain Cats who scored in double-figures.  Davis also had seven rebounds, three assists and three steals, while Marcus Tullis scored 13 points and had eight rebounds.  Patrick Grubbs chipped in 12 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.  Head coach Bob Rukavina also got eight points and four rebounds from Ionadi, and six points and a game-high 10 assists for William Sharpe, Pitt-Johnstown's all-time leader in assists.

The Mountain Cats shot an even 49% (24-49) from the field, 7-21 from three-point range and 12-17 from the free-throw line.  Wheeling Jesuit, which held a 37-34 advantage in rebounding, ended the night shooting just 38.1% (24-63) from the floor.  The Cardinals were also just 7-29 from behind the three-point line and 0-4 from the charity stripe.

Harris, who netted 18 points in the first half, led Wheeling Jesuit with 21 points, eight rebounds and six assists.  Ukwuoma collected 12 points and eight rebounds for the Cardinals, who ended the season with a 14-16 record.