RELEASE DATE: 02/06/06

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Mounties Win Thriller -- DeShields scores 19

Mansfield – The Mountaineers entered Monday night’s game looking for redemption from earlier this season when the Mountain Cats of UPJ defeated Mansfield 74-61 in Johnstown. Nearly one month after that contest Mansfield would have their redemption defeating UPJ 70-67 in yet another nail biting finish.

            With two power-packed offenses that both average near 80 points per game, a high scoring first half was expected but was not to be had. A defensive battle began early in the half and continued until 11:00 to play inm the half. Mansfield held a 10-8 advantage after nine minutes of play and then the scoring began.

            The Mounties went on a 10-0 run sparked by a Chris Greene 3-pointer to take a 17-8 advantage. Mansfield capitalized on uncharacteristically sloppy offensive play from UPJ scoring 18 points off UPJ’s 16 turnovers. The 16 turnovers in the first half were more than the Mountain Cats average per game.

            “We stepped up in a big way defensively tonight. They protect the ball real well and we managed to force 23 turnovers. John Hampton had a big game defensively and all of our big men played tough in the paint,” said head coach Rich Miller.

Photo Credit: Gregory Orr - Flashlight Photographer

            There were 11 lead changes or ties in the final seven minutes of the first half with Brandon DeShields tying the score at 30-30 on two free throws with 49 seconds to play to send the game into intermission.

            Mansfield relied on help from every player with nine players getting in on the scoring action in the first half. Deshields and Greene led Mansfield with five points each. The nations leading field goal shooter, Chris Gilliam, was held to only six points in the half.

            “Our big men did a great job on Gilliam tonight. They shut down a lot of his opportunities and played with an outstanding amount of energy and enthusiasm,” said Miller.

            With neither team gaining momentum after the first half of play, Pitt-Johnstown seemed to take a definitive advantage after a 7-0 run early in the second half to take a 51-43 lead. The Mounties would fight back behind an incredible performance by senior Brandon DeShields. With just under 7:30 to play in the game, DeShields took control of the game scoring Mansfield’s next ten points and then driving the lane and dishing to Carlos Collazo who put up an easy lay-up to make the score 59-58 in favor of UPJ. “Brandon really came through for us in the second half, and Carlos gave us a real solid effort off the bench. We needed those guys tonight,” said Miller.

            John Hampton would make his presence in a big way with under four minutes to play as he drove the lane and was fouled with 3:35 to play. Hampton hit both free throws to give the Mounties a permanent advantage at 61-60. Three more free throws from DeShields kept Mansfield in front 64-63 with 2:36 to play in the game. Senior Dave Hoopes struggled for much of the game with his shot but came through in a big way with a 3-pointer to put the Mounties up 67-63 with two minutes to go.

            UPJ battled back to make the score 67-65 and then stole the ball on Mansfield’s next possession. With 30.8 seconds left in the game and a chance to tie, Mountain Cat Steve Scorpion was called for an offensive foul disqualifying him from the contest and giving the ball back to Mansfield. Hoopes was fouled with 9.4 seconds to play and sank both free throws putting Mansfield up 69-65. On UPJ’s in bounds pass, John Hampton stole the ball and was fouled with six seconds remaining. Hampton hit 1-of-2 free throws to put the game out of reach. UPJ would convert one final bucket at the buzzer to make the final score 70-67 in favor of the Mounties.

            Mansfield was led by Brandon Deshields who scored a game-high 19 points including 15 in the second half. Collazo added 12 points and 9 rebounds off the bench. All of Mansfield’s players got into the scoring action with everyone finishing with two points or more.

            UPJ was led by Joey Tutchstone who recorded 16 points and 6 rebounds. Marcus Tullis added 13 while J.J. Schumacher scoring 10. The nations leading field goal shooter, Chris Gilliam, was held to 12 points while shooting 5-of-9 from the field.

            Mansfield improves to 10-10 overall this season and is back in action Wednesday February 8 when they travel to Millersville for a key PSAC East match-up.

Newspaper Box Score

University of Pitt Johnstown vs Mansfield University

2/6/06 7:00 pm at Decker Gymnasium

At Decker Gymnasium

MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY 70, UNIVERSITY OF PITT JOHNSTOWN 67

UNIVERSITY OF PITT JOHNSTOWN (16-5)

TUTCHSTONE, Joey 7-12 1-5 16; TULLIS, Marcus 6-11 1-2 13; GILLIAM, Chris 5-9

2-2 12; SCHUMACHER, J.J. 4-9 1-1 10; SCORPION, Steve 3-7 0-0 8; GOLDCAMP,

Kyle 2-7 1-2 5; DAVIS, Quinton 1-3 1-2 3; SHARPE, William 0-2 0-0 0; MEZYK,

Nick 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 28-61 7-14 67.

MANSFIELD UNIVERSITY (10-10)

DESHIELDS, Brandon 4-11 8-10 19; COLLAZO, Carlos 4-9 4-5 12; MARTIN, Andrae

3-8 2-2 8; HOOPES, David 2-9 2-2 7; HAMPTON, John 1-3 5-9 7; GREENE, Chris

2-4 0-0 5; MORTIMER, Denny 1-3 2-4 4; HILL, Kevin 1-1 0-0 3; WILLIAMS,

Terrance 1-3 1-2 3; KRESS, Justin 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 20-53 24-34 70.

University of Pitt Johnstown.. 30 37 - 67

Mansfield University.......... 30 40 - 70

3-point goals-University of Pitt Johnstown 4-10 (SCORPION, Steve 2-4;

SCHUMACHER, J.J. 1-2; TUTCHSTONE, Joey 1-1; SHARPE, William 0-1; MEZYK, Nick

0-1; TULLIS, Marcus 0-1), Mansfield University 6-18 (DESHIELDS, Brandon 3-6;

HOOPES, David 1-8; GREENE, Chris 1-2; HILL, Kevin 1-1; WILLIAMS, Terrance

0-1). Fouled out--University of Pitt Johnstown-SCORPION, Steve, Mansfield

University-None. Rebounds-University of Pitt Johnstown 39 (TULLIS, Marcus

8), Mansfield University 35 (COLLAZO, Carlos 9). Assists-University of Pitt

Johnstown 13 (SCHUMACHER, J.J. 8), Mansfield University 11 (GREENE, Chris

5). Total fouls-University of Pitt Johnstown 24, Mansfield University 17.

A-298