JOHNSTOWN — Pitt-Johnstown received a game-high 27 points from Nick Novak and built a

12-point second-half lead on the way to a 79-71 victory over Wheeling Jesuit on Saturday at the Sports Center. Pitt-Johnstown has won three straight games and improved to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in conference-play.

Wheeling Jesuit opened-up an 16-11 lead seven minutes into the game on a Justin Fritts 3-pointer, but the Mountain Cats answered with a 12-0 run over the next three minutes to build a seven-point advantage of their own on Novak’s breakaway dunk. Recardo Gaddy’s layup closed a quick 8-2 Cardinals’ spurt that cut it to

25-24 at 8:23, but Pitt-Johnstown was able to rebuild the lead to seven at the half.

Novak’s 3-pointer from the corner extended it back to five points before Jordan Miller connected for three with 35 seconds remaining to extend it to 41-34 at the break.

Fritts’ layup at 12:23 got Wheeling Jesuit to within two at 49-47, but Noah Hartun hit a 3-pointer on Pitt-Johnstown’s next trip down the floor to ignite an 13-3 Mountain Cat run and extend the lead to 12 with 8:05 to play.

Wheeling Jesuit clawed back to within three on two occasions, with the last coming on a Philip Green bucket with 1:11 on the clock. However, that’s as close as the Cardinals could get.

Novak led all scorers and four Pitt-

Johnstown players in double figures with 27 points on 10 of 16 shooting and 6 of 7 from the free-throw line. Bill Luther had 12 points and Andrew Cressler added 11 points and a game-high 15 rebounds.

Hartung had 10 points and five rebounds and Paul Weatherly chipped-in nine points off the bench. Ian Vescovi pulled down 12 rebounds in the win.

Mount Aloysius 83, Lancaster Bible 70

CRESSON – Mount Aloysius continued its winning ways with a victory over Lancaster Bible.

The Mounties struggled to defend Lancaster Bible’s strong outside shooting early as the Chargers opened 8 of 10 from behind the arc and held a 41-38 lead at halftime.

Back-to-back Demetrius Davis 3-pointers to open the second half allowed the Mounties to recapture the lead for good.

Mount Aloysius was also able to hold Lancaster Bible to just 33-percent shooting in the second half.

Davis finished with a game-high 27 points. Dameon Turner chipped in 12 points for the hosts.

Lancaster Bible was led by Dan Karl’s 16 points.

 

College Women

Wheeling Jesuit 72, Pitt-Johnstown 69

Kaitlynn Fratz scored a game-high31 points to help Pitt-Johnstown battle back from a 17-point deficit, but Wheeling Jesuit eventually held on for a win Saturday afternoon in the Sports Center.

The Lady Cats dropped to 3-4 and 1-4 in the WVIAC.

Nicole Carman’s 3-pointer gave the Lady Cats an early three-point lead, but Wheeling Jesuit answered with an 11-0 run, including eight straight points from Jamie Sobczak, to build a 15-7 advantage with 14:50 left in the half.

The Cardinals held the lead the rest of the half. Two free throws by Taneka Lewis a minute later pushed it into double figures before an Alex Anderson layup at

1:54 gave Wheeling Jesuit its largest lead of the first half at 44-27. Pitt-Johnstown got five points from Fratz and a bucket from Jasmine Harper in the final two minutes to pull to within 12 at 46-34 at the half.

Sobczak’s layup and free-throw 2:20 into the second half pushed the Cardinals back to 15.

The Lady Cats stormed back with a 24-6 run of their own over the the next 11 minutes to retake the lead. Kayla DeCriscio’s

3-pointer at 8:14 gave the lead back to Pitt-Johnstown. Grace Hyland followed with a basket on the Lady Cats’ next trip down the floor to increase it to 60-57 with 6:52 to play.

A Breanna Butler 3-pointer with just under five minutes to play gave the lead back to the Cardinals, but Pitt-Johnstown clawed back again for a chance to tie it at the buzzer.

Fratz led all scorers with 31 points on 10-20 shooting from the field and 9 of 12 from the free-throw line. Harper had 10 points and a team-high nine rebounds, while Carman and DeCriscio each had eight points. Carman also grabbed six rebounds. Rachel Johnson added six points and eight rebounds in the loss.

Mount Aloysius 74, Chatham 52

CRESSON – Mount Aloysius jumped out to an early 20-3 lead, en route to a win over Chatham.

The Mounties scored early and often in the first half while holding Chatham to just 25 percent. Mount Aloysius led35-17 at the break.

Chatham was able to cut the Mounties lead to single digits with 14:07 to play in the game before a pair of Olivia Rupp free throws sparked a Mount Aloysius run that grew the lead as high as 25 points.

Becky Bard led Mount Aloysius with 17 points. Rupp added 15 and Lindsy

Sammarco contributed 14 points and 11 rebounds.

Emily Schmidts scored a game-high 21 points in the losing effort.