Mansfield University Athletics issued the following announcement on Jan. 19.
The Mansfield University men's basketball team fell to a hot-shooting University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown, 92-73 in Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) East-West competition on Wednesday night, Jan. 19 inside Decker Gymnasium.
For the Mounties (1-15, 0-10 PSAC), sophomore Jaz Farrell finished with a team high 24 points after finishing 4-of-7 from 3-point land. Freshman Justice Smith chipped in 12 points, 5 rebounds and 4 assists and freshman Idris Ali added 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting from the floor. Sophomore Marcus Friend plucked a game-high six steals to go with six points and four assists. Freshman Manir Waller scored eight points and hauled in five rebounds.
The Mountain Cats were red-hot in the first half, shooting a cool 58 percent (18-of-31) from the floor to build a 43-32 lead heading into the break. The Mounties went 12-of-27 (44 percent) from shots inside the arch but missed their first 11 from deep to allow UPJ to create separation.
The Mountain Cats were scorching from 3-point land early and built their largest lead of the half, 39-23, with 3:21 remaining. However, they did not hit knock down another trifecta in the half and the Mounties closed out the period on a 9-4 run to cut the deficit to 11 at the midway point. Friend poured in five points, while Ali and Farrell knocked down MU's first two 3-pointers during the run.
Smith led the Mountaineers with nine points and four rebounds in the first half.
In the second half, the Mountain Cats jolted out on an 11-2 run to extend their lead to the largest of the game, 54-34 through the opening 2:23. Mansfield countered with a 7-2 run to cut the deficit back to 15 thanks to seven straight points from Farrell.
The game of runs continued, as UPJ followed with a 10-3 run of their own to regain a 20-point lead, 66-44 with 12:42 to go.
The Mounties continued to shoot well from deep in the second half, hitting four of their first six trifectas to remain within striking distance. A 3-pointer from Smith and a pair of free throws by Ali and Friend trimmed the Mountain Cats' lead to 77-59 with just over eight minutes to go.
However, the Mountain Cats improved their 58 percent first half shooting to over 60 and continued to execute to prevent the Mounties from getting back into the game.
For UPJ, Fred Mulbah recorded an 18-point, 11-assist double-double, Ryan Smith went 7-of-12 for 24 points and John Paul Kromka chipped in 20 points.
The Mountaineers travel to Millersville University at 3 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 22.
Original source can be found here.
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