JOHNSTOWN — Pitt-Johnstown raced out to a double-digit lead less than five minutes into the game before building a 35-point halftime advantage in a dominating 90-53 WVIAC victory over Ohio Valley Monday night at the Sports Center.

Nick Novak scored 16 points and Jordan Miller added 15 points to help Pitt-Johnstown (7-6, 4-6 WVIAC) snap a four-game losing streak.

It was all Mountain Cats from the opening tip. Novak’s dunk five minutes in put Pitt-Johnstown up 15-2, before Matt Palo hit a 3-pointer five minutes later to extend it to 30-10.

Pitt-Johnstown wasn’t done there. Miller’s 3-pointer got the margin to 31 and Ian Vescovi gave Pitt-Johnstown a 35-point halftime advantage (51-16) with a putback with just under a minute remaining.

It was more of the same in the second half.

The Mountain Cats’ lead grew to 41 (64-23) on another Miller 3-pointer then to 45 on a Noah Hartung free-throw.

Novak dished out six assists. Miller made five 3-pointers, while Vescovi had 14 points and nine rebounds. Drew Cressler added 11 points and seven rebounds. Hartung finished with eight points and five rebounds.

Novak stands in fourth-place on UPJ’s all-time scoring list with 1,687 points and third on the assists list with 459, while Miller is second on the all-time 3-point field goal list (251) and 14th on the scoring list with 1,184 points.

Pitt-Johnstown shot 53.4 percent (39-for-73) from the floor, while holding Ohio Valley 18-for-56 shooting.

The Mountain Cats, which dominated the glass 49-25, hit 8-19 from behind the 3-point line and 4-5 from the free-throw line. The Fighting Scots were also 8-19 from 3-point range and 9-10 from the charity stripe.

First-place Mounties roll

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Every player on the Mount Aloysius roster made it into the scoring column in an 87-57 win over Franciscan University.

The game was tied at 20-all midway through the first half, before a Jeff Stem 3-pointer started a 30-2 Mount Aloysius run.

Stem led Mount Aloysius with a game-high 23 points.  Demetrius Davis added 18 points.  

Jake Wyatt grabbed 13 rebounds.

Christian Duke had a double-double for Franciscan with 17 points and 10 rebounds.

BASKETBALL

St. Francis women win

WEST LONG BRANCH, N.J. – The St. Francis University women's basketball team remained unbeaten in Northeast Conference play with a 63-49 victory Monday afternoon at Monmouth.

The Red Flash (9-6, 4-0) posted a strong first half and cruised to their first win against the Hawks (5-10, 2-2) in West Long Branch since 2004.

Nickia Gibbs led St. Francis with 17 points on 6-for-9 shooting while Alli Williams added 15 points and 10 rebounds for her 10th double-double of the season.

Carly Thibault nearly shot the Hawks back into the game in the second half but St. Francis lead never fell out of double-digits in the second half.

St. Francis started the second half strong and ran its lead to as many as 21 points. Monmouth battled back behind the excellent 3-point shooting of Thibault, who tallied 16 second-half points and hit four 3-pointers. Monmouth could not get the lead below 11 as the Red Flash sealed the win late at the free throw line. Gibbs posted nine second-half points and several key jumpers and Williams posted eight second half points as the Flash cruised to the win.  

The game started slowly on both sides as the contest remained scoreless for the first three minutes. The Flash played dominant defense and allowed just four field goals in the first half. The starters for the Hawks were limited to just 2-for-16 shooting in the first half. St. Francis got a solid effort from Gibbs, who led SFU in the first half with eight points while Williams added seven points and eight rebounds. The strong showing earned the Flash a 29-13 advantage at the intermission.

UPJ routs Ohio Valley at home

Kaitlynn Fratz poured in a game-high 25 points to help

Pitt-Johnstown build a 20-point second-half lead on their way to beating Ohio Valley, 88-72, in a WVIAC contest Monday at the Sports Center.

The Lady Cats have won four of five games and improved to 7-6 overall and 5-5 in the WVIAC.

After falling behind 1-0 on Kayla Parsley’s free-throw, the Lady Cats got a 3-pointer from Fratz on their next trip down the floor to gain a lead they would not relinquish.

Nicole Carman’s layup with just under 15 minutes left in the first half put Pitt-Johnstown up 14-4, before the Fighting Scots answered with a quick 9-2 run to pull to within three at 16-13 on two Janelle Silver free-throws.

Pitt-Johnstown outscored Ohio Valley 29-17 the rest of the half to pull away.

Pitt-Johnstown extended its lead to 18 on two occasions, with the last coming on Leah Hansen’s free throws with 2:51 left, before Hansen’s driving lay-up with seven seconds to go put the Lady Cats in front 45-30 at the break.

Fratz led all scorers with 25 points, six rebounds and nine assists. Jasmine Harper had 13 points and 11 rebounds, while Rachel Johnson added 11 points and seven rebounds for the Lady Cats. Olivia Rizzo and Sleighter each scored eight points. Inaya Stephenson chipped in eight points and five rebounds.

Pitt-Johnstown made 32 of 66 field goals, including 10-for-24 from 3-point range.

Parsley had 19 points and 10 rebounds, and Way collected 18 points for Ohio Valley, which dropped to 0-13 overall and 0-9 in the WVIAC.

Mount women win on road

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio – Mount Aloysius got back on track with a 71-54 win over Franciscan.

The Lady Mounties led 37-19 at the break and were able to extend their lead to as many 28 points in the second half.

Lindsy Sammarco scored 22 points to lead Mount Aloysius.  Olivia Rupp added 16 points and Becky Bard had 11 points. Teddi Burkett pulled down 11 rebounds.