Published: March 09, 2009 12:19 am      

UPJ to face top-seeded Gannon in regionals

The Pitt-Johnstown men’s basketball team is ready to dance again.

For the second straight year and fourth time in school history, the Mountain Cats have earned a berth in the NCAA Division II postseason tournament.

Eighth-seeded UPJ (24-7) will take on top-seeded Gannon (27-3), the host of this year’s Atlantic Regional Tournament, in first-round action Saturday at the Hammermill Center in Erie.

The Mountain Cats earned an automatic bid to this year’s tournament by winning the West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WVIAC) tournament title.

Pitt-Johnstown defeated second-seeded Alderson-Broaddus (W.Va.) College, 74-73, in double overtime on Saturday to claim the title.

“I can’t believe we got here again,” UPJ coach Bob Rukavina said. “It was a little bit of a different path than last year, but the same result (getting to the regional). We miss the contributions that (former Mountain Cat) Chris Gilliam gave us, but we have four seniors who are a year older and wiser, have the experience and know what it is going to take in the regional.”

Rukavina’s teams have posted a

326-118 record in the 20 seasons he has been at the helm of the Mountain Cat program. He is the winningest coach in Pitt-Johnstown men’s basketball history. He has led the Mountain Cats to all four of their NCAA Tournament appearances.

UPJ appeared in back-to-back NCAA Tournament berths following the 1996-97 and 1997-98 seasons. Last season, Pitt-Johnstown advanced to the East Region semifinals with an 83-64 victory over Mount Olive (N.C.) College in the opening round, before suffering an

81-73 loss to Millersville University in the semifinals.

UPJ is led by first-team all-WVIAC selections Marcus Tullis and Quinton Davis. Tullis averages 18.5 points per game and Davis, 18.1 per game.

WVIAC all-freshman team choice Patrick Grubbs is the team’s leading rebounder (8.3 per game) and third leading scorer (10.5 per game).

“This team has character and heart,” Rukavina said.

“We’ll be ready to play.”

Gannon, the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) regular-season and tournament champions, is led by former Mountain Cat Kyle Goldcamp, who is averaging over 19 points and nine rebounds per game for the Golden Knights.

The other seeds in the region are Virginia Union (No. 2), Kutztown (3), Johnson C. Smith of North Carolina (4), Alderson-Broaddus (5), West Virginia State (6) and IUP (7).