PITT-JOHNSTOWN Mountain Cats (10-9, 3-6 PSAC West) AT EDINBORO Fighting Scots (8-10, 1-7 PSAC West)  

DATE: Saturday, February 1, 2014
TIPOFF: 3:00 p.m.
SITE: McComb Fieldhouse
RADIO: WFSE 88.9 FM
Live Stats: www.sidearmstats.com/edinboro/mbball/
 
Edinboro Game Notes

Edinboro Season Stats, Pitt-Johnstown Season Stats
 
FIGHTING SCOTS FIGHTING CANCER DAY
The Edinboro University athletic department will hold its annual Fighting Scots Fighting Cancer Day on Saturday, February 1.  The men's and women's basketball teams will host Pitt-Johnstown that day in a PSAC West doubleheader. It will be a tripleheader of athletic events, as the wrestling team hosts the University at Buffalo at 7 p.m.  Admission to all three events is free with a donation to the Breast Cancer Society.  The athletic department will work in conjunction with the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority.  The sorority will also be accepting donations, along with selling bracelets and passing out ribbons and informational pamphlets about breast cancer.
 
SERIES RECORD
Edinboro leads 17-5

LAST MEETING
November 23, 2013- Pitt-Johnstown 91, Edinboro 87
 
Bryan Theriot's double-double was not enough to give the Fighting Scots a victory in their first PSAC contest of the season at Pitt-Johnstown. The senior eclipsed the 500 career rebound mark in the loss, posting a team-high 10 rebounds to go along with 26 points. The Mountain Cats got off to a hot start in the first half, jumping out to an early 10-0 lead. Theriot finally got the Fighting Scots on the board with a layup at the 15:33 mark in the opening period. Later in the half, Jake Laravie hit a three-pointer to give Pitt-Johnstown its largest lead of the night at 34-16 at the 6:17 mark. The Scots responded with a 16-0 run to cut the Pitt-Johnstown advantage to just 34-32, led by Theriot's eight points in that span. The Mountain Cats scored six straight points to close the half, holding a 40-32 advantage at the break. After Alex Moore and Henri Wade-Chatman nailed back-to-back jumpers to open the half, Pitt-Johnstown posted an 11-0 run to expand its lead back to 15 points. Marsh connected from behind the arc to reduce the Mountain Cat advantage to nine at 62-53 with 11 minutes remaining in the game. After several missed shots by both teams, Wade-Chatman and Logan scored on consecutive possessions to bring the Fighting Scots within five points at the 9:53 mark in the second half. Edinboro could not come any closer than four points for the remainder of the contest, giving Pitt-Johnstown its first PSAC victory in school history. Marsh finished with a game-high 30 points on 10 of 18 shooting, including six of nine shots from behind the arc. Logan also chipped in nine points, while Theriot was a perfect 10 for 10 from the free throw line. Nate Snodgrass paced the Mountain Cats with 25 points, nine rebounds and four assists. Andrew Cressler recorded a team-high ten rebounds to go along with 13 points, while Ian Vescovi added 16 points.
 
 
LAST GAME'S STARTERS

Edinboro	Pitt-Johnstown
#2 Henri Wade-Chatman (G, 6-2, So.)	#3 Nate Snodgrass (G, 6-1, So.)
#5 Will Marrow (G, 6-4, R-So.)	#10 Andrew Cressler (F, 6-4, Sr.)
#5 Alex Moore  (F, 6-4, Sr.)	#11 Bill Luther (F, 6-7, Sr.)
#21 Xavier Churnac  (F, 6-5, Sr.)	#23 Paul Weatherly (F, 6-4, Sr.)
#55 Bryan Theriot (C, 6-9, Sr)	#50 Ian Vescovi  (F, 6-9, Jr.)

HEAD COACHES
Edinboro: Pat Cleary (Edinboro '99)
Record at Edinboro: 8-10, 1st year
Career Record: 8-10, 1st year

Pat Cleary (Edinboro '99) is in his first year as head coach of the Fighting Scots, taking over for his predecessor Greg Walcavich, who spent 24 years at the helm of the Edinboro program. Cleary previously worked as an assistant under Walcavich for 16 years, first as a student aide before becoming a full-time assistant coach. He is credited for recruiting many of Edinboro's top contributors in recent years. The first-year head coach takes over a team that finished 18-10 a year ago and reached the PSAC Tournament Semifinals. Cleary has led the Fighting Scots to a 8-10 record so far this season.

Clarion: Bob Rukavina
Record at Pitt-Johnstown: 402-278, (25th year)
Career Record: 402-278, (25th year)


Bob Rukavina is in his 25th year in charge of the Mountain Cats' program, showing a record of 402-278 in that time. Rukavina earned his 400th career coaching victory in Pitt-Johnstown's 91-74 victory at Mansfield earlier this season. Last season, he led the Mountain Cats to a 15-13 overall record and a berth in the WVIAC quarterfinals, where Pitt-Johnstown fell to West Liberty, a team that would go on to the NCAA Tournament Semifinals. Rukavina has led the Mountain Cats to four NCAA Division II Tournament appearances and seven 20-win seasons during his tenure. Since taking over the program for the 1989-90 season, Rukavina has averaged nearly 17 victories per season. He entered the 2013-14 campaign ranking 31st in Division II among active coaches in career wins with 394 and 65th in winning percentage at 59.3 percent. He is also the winningest coach in Pitt-Johnstown history. Prior to leading the Mountain Cats, he previously served as the head coach at Community College of Allegheny County - South Campus. Rukavina is also the East Region representative for the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) national poll.
 
 
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Edinboro
Bryan Theriot (C, 6-9, Sr.) arned first team All-PSAC West accolades a year ago after averaging 18.1 ppg. and 8.9 rpg. Was named a preseason All-PSAC choice. Shot 55.4 percent from the floor and 87.2 percent at the line. He was named the PSAC West Men's Basketball Player of the Week for the week ending January 12, after averaging 18.5 points and 9.0 rebounds per game in two contests. He posted his fourth double-double of the season and  22nd of his career with a 25-point, 10-rebound performance to lead Edinboro past visiting Shippensburg. He leads the team in scoring at 17.8 points per contest, also ranks sixth in scoring average in the PSAC. He is fifth in the league in rebounding average at 8.0 boards per game, and second in the conference in field goal percentage at 60.0 percent (111 of 185). The senior ranks 14th in school history with 1,226 career points and 19th with 610 career rebounds. He also sits at second all-time in career field goal percentage, shooting 59.0 percent from the field for his career (431 of 730).
 
Henri Wade-Chatman (G, 6-2, So.) is a first-year player for the Fighting Scots after transferring from Community College of Allegheny County. He had a team-high 22 points vs. Mercyhurst on 9 of 14 shooting. Wade-Chatman is averaging 13.8 ppg. in the Scots' last five contests and is the team's third-leading scorer at 12.2 points per game. Known as "Booka" to his teammates, Wade-Chatman is also team leader in steals with 18. He dished out a game-high eight assists with no turnovers vs. Clarion, while ranking sixth in the PSAC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 1.8 (61/34), and eighth in the league in assists per game at 3.4.

Pitt-Johnstown
#50 Ian Vescovi (F, 6-9, Jr.) is the Mountain Cats' leading scorer and rebounder, averaging 13.5 points and 7.1 boards per game this season. The 6'9'' junior ranks 19th in the PSAC in scoring and 14th in the conference in rebounding average. He also sits third in the conference in field goal percentage at 58.7 percent on the season (105 of 179). Vescovi dropped in 16 points and pulled down seven boards against Edinboro earlier this season. He has posted three double-doubles this season, including a 23-point, 14-rebound effort versus Shippensburg.
 
#11 Bill Luther (F, 6-7, Sr.) is Pitt-Johnstown's top three-point threat as well as one of the best marksmen in the PSAC. He ranks ninth in the conference in three-point field goal percentage at 40.3 percent, and fifth in the league in three-point field goals made per game with 2.6. Luther connected on six of eight shots from long range on two occasions this season.  He scored 22 points against Mansfield before topping that season-high in a loss at Seton Hill with 24 markers. Luther was held to a season-low three points in the Mountain Cats' 91-87 defeat of Edinboro the last time the two teams met.
 
THE GAME STORIES
• Edinboro claimed its first PSAC West victory of the 2013-14 campaign with an 81-74 defeat at Clarion last Saturday. The last time the Fighting Scots dopped their first seven games in PSAC play was during the 1959-60 campaign. The 1959-60 team also lost its first seven contests in the conference before defeating Clarion 80-66.
 
• Edinboro begins the second half of the PSAC West schedule by hosting Pitt-Johnstown. The Fighting Scots have a 1-7 record in conference play and an 8-10 overall mark. The Mountain Cats come into the game with a 3-6 ledger in the PSAC West and a 10-8 mark on the season. Edinboro finished last season's PSAC schedule by winning seven out of its final 11 regular season contests heading into the PSAC playoffs.
 
•Pitt-Johnstown defeated Edinboro in the teams' first meeting this season, 91-87 on November 23 at the Sports Center in Johnstown, PA. The win marked the first PSAC victory in school history for the Mountain Cats, who joined the PSAC this season after competing in the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC). It was also Edinboro's first PSAC West contest of the season.
 
•The Scots snapped a four-game losing streak with its win at Clarion. The streak marked their longest skid of the season. The last time the Fighting Scots lost four straight games was during the 2011-12 campaign.
• The Mountain Cats are coming off a 91-68 loss to 11th-ranked Indiana (Pa.) on Wednesday night. Pitt-Johnstown has dropped a season-high four straight games.
 
• Johnathan Logan posted one of his best performances of the season at Clarion, dropping in a team-high 18 points on six of eight shooting, including three of four shots from behind the arc. Logan came into the game on a cold streak, averaging just 5.0 points per game in the previous seven games after averaging 11.0 points per contest through the first 10 games of the season.
 
• The Edinboro - Pitt-Johnstown matchup features two of the top offenses in the PSAC. The Fighting Scots rank fifth in this statistic at 75.3 points per game, while the Mountain Cats rank fourth at 75.9 markers per contest. Pitt-Johnstown paces the conference in shooting percentage, hitting at 47.6 percent from the floor.
 
• The Fighting Scots were picked to finish eighth in the Western Division while the Mountain Cats were picked to finish fifth the PSAC West in the conference preseason poll.
 
NEXT FOR THE FIGHTING SCOTS
Wednesday, February 5 at Seton Hill 7:30 p.m.