GREENSBURG, Pa. -
Noah Davis scored 12 points, but the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown led wire-to-wire to spoil the Griffin's senior night in the final regular season game, 75-61.
With the loss, Seton Hill slips to 11-15 overall, 8-14 in the PSAC. UPJ improves to 17-10 overall and 12-9 in the conference.
Seton Hill got the senior bump to start out the contest when
Damjan Sredanovic scored the old-fashioned three-point play just one minute into the game.
Noah Davis hit on a layup, and
Manny Joshua scored on back-to-back possessions to keep SHU in front early, 9-5. Following a UPJ three,
Zach Herman got in the senior-action with a layup, and
Spencer Casson's dunk pushed the lead out to five, 13-8, with 14:51 remaining in the first half. However, UPJ would clamp down on the defense end and turn their offense up a notch, gaining the lead just a few possessions later when Isaac Vescovi scored five-straight points and a Jake Laravie three-ball put them ahead, 15-13 with 11:36 remaining. The Mountain Cats would outscore SHU, 19-7, ending the half with a 34-20 lead.
The second half saw Pitt-Johnstown push the lead out to 18, 47-29, over the first five and a half minutes. Seton Hill fought back with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to 11, 47-36 with 11:37 remaining in the game. From there the two teams would go back-and-forth until SHU finally broke the double-digit barrier when they cut the lead to just 9, 68-59, with 2:57 to go. But, Griffins would run out of gas, eventually falling by a score of 75-61.
Noah Davis was the lone Griffin in double-figures, scoring 12 points on 6-of-14 from the floor.
Fernando Salsamendi had nine points, and
Milenko Predic scored a career-high nine points.
For the game, Seton Hill made 14-of-54 shots from the floor, including a season-low 2-of-13 from three-point land. The Griffins were a combined 11-of-18 from the line, grabbed a total of 27 rebounds, dished out 12 assists, and had seven steals. SHU scored 38 points in the paint, 10 off of turnovers, and the bench scored 35 points.
Pitt-Johnstown made 27-of-51 total shots. The Mountain Cats were 9-of-23 from distance, and made 12-of-13 shots from the foul line. UPJ grabbed 31 rebounds, moved the ball around for 22 assists, turned the ball over 13 times, and only had four steals. As a team, they scored 30 points in the paint, had 12 points off of turnovers, and received 19 points from the bench.
Seton Hill remains alive for the 6th and final PSAC playoff spot. The Griffins will clinch a spot if California (PA) falls to Indiana (PA) on Saturday afternoon.