The championship game of the 32nd annual Mountain Cat Tournament will feature a city rivalry after Johnstown and Bishop McCort earned victories on Friday night at the Pitt-Johnstown Sports Center.
Johnstown outlasted Tussey Mountain for a 65-61 win in the opening game, and the Crushers defeated Richland 56-41 in the second game to set the final.
The committee announced Friday night that the games today will have time changes because of the inclement weather. The consolation game will be held at 1 p.m. and the championship game at 2:30.
The Trojans appeared to be cruising to an easy victory over the Titans, but Randy Zimmerman had other ideas.
Johnstown held an 18-point lead in the third quarter after Mark Watson hit a layup to make the advantage 51-33 with 1:10 left in the third quarter.
However, Tussey’s 6-1 senior Zimmerman led an intense fourth-quarter comeback. Zimmerman scored 24 of his game-high 39 points in the fourth quarter.
The Titans narrowed the Trojan lead to five points with 3:27 left in the game.
Johnstown’s first-year coach Neil Cobaugh attributed the comeback to a change in his defensive strategy based upon how the game was being called by the officials.
“(Zimmerman) got hot, and the foul situation, how the game was being called, meant that we had to take our pressure off, and sort of had to ease up,” Cobaugh said. “When we eased up on our pressure, that is how they got back into the game.”
Zimmerman drove to the bucket for many of those points, and Tussey veteran coach Dave Bailey said that he was pleased with the way his team did not fold despite the 18-point deficit.
“I was happy with the way we came back. The teams were pretty well-matched,” Bailey said. “Randy kept us in the game in the second half. He just had a terrific second half.”
Watson led the Trojans with 15 points, while Cliff Eddins contributed 11.
McCort and Richland played a close first half, with the Crushers holding a 30-28 lead. However, the Crushers pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 15-point win.
“Our effort has been good the past two games,” McCort coach Pat Hollern said. “Against BG the other night, we just had a tough time scoring. We did a lot of good things here tonight. We need to get ourselves refocused on rebounding the basketball.”
The Crushers shot at a 57 percent clip in the game, hitting 25-of-44. They pulled away in the second half, holding the Rams to just 13 points.
Bill Dill led the Crushers with 14 points and Jerqual Wilson added 11.
The Rams are struggling to find a way to win after falling to 0-4.
“We started executing and playing defense in the second quarter,” Richland coach Tim Koshute said.
“We got back in the game. Then nothing would fall and they would get a stick-back or an easy shot. Give them credit for making them.”
Alex Ritenour led the Rams with 13 points, and Dereck Malzi added 11.
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