CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Pitt Johnstown may have been forced to wait a little longer than it would have liked, but in the end, it was all good for the Mountain Cats.

Tournament MVP Marcus Tullis scored six of his 30 points in the second overtime Saturday night, leading UPJ to a thrilling 74-73 victory over Alderson-Broaddus in the championship game of the West Virginia Conference men's tournament at the Civic Center.

The win earns the Mountain Cats a berth in next week's NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional, likely in Erie, Pa.

"I just thought it was one of the greatest basketball games I've ever been involved with,'' said UPJ coach Bob Rukavina. "Both teams played their hearts out. Neither team gave up. I'm glad that we should both be going to Erie.''

A-B (26-5) was sixth in last week's regional standings, one spot behind West Virginia State, which lost in the tournament quarterfinals. Both are expected to get bids to the eight-team regional.

Stan Hall of A-B matched Tullis with 30 points and the Battlers' Sam Liggins hit a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into double overtime tied at 65. It was the 16th and final tie of a game in which neither side led by more than six points.

"We could have put our heads down and went in the tank after Liggins hit that 3,'' Rukavina said, "but that shows what kind of character this team has.''

The Mountain Cats, in becoming the first team outside West Virginia to capture a WVC tournament title, seemed to have the game on ice a couple times after the teams were tied at 31 at halftime.

Pitt Johnstown had the lead last in regulation, and also had the ball last, but neither worked out. Tullis missed a hurried shot off an inbound play as the buzzer sounded in regulation.

Then in OT, the Mountain Cats held a four-point lead at 61-57 and had possession of the ball with 39 seconds remaining after an A-B turnover. That didn't work out, either.

After UPJ's Quinton Davis hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 7.3 seconds left, his team led 65-62. The Battlers ran a quick weave at the top of the key trying to spring a shooter loose for a long shot.

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Pitt Johnstown may have been forced to wait a little longer than it would have liked, but in the end, it was all good for the Mountain Cats.

Tournament MVP Marcus Tullis scored six of his 30 points in the second overtime Saturday night, leading UPJ to a thrilling 74-73 victory over Alderson-Broaddus in the championship game of the West Virginia Conference men's tournament at the Civic Center.

The win earns the Mountain Cats a berth in next week's NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional, likely in Erie, Pa.

"I just thought it was one of the greatest basketball games I've ever been involved with,'' said UPJ coach Bob Rukavina. "Both teams played their hearts out. Neither team gave up. I'm glad that we should both be going to Erie.''

A-B (26-5) was sixth in last week's regional standings, one spot behind West Virginia State, which lost in the tournament quarterfinals. Both are expected to get bids to the eight-team regional.

Stan Hall of A-B matched Tullis with 30 points and the Battlers' Sam Liggins hit a desperation 3-pointer at the buzzer to send the game into double overtime tied at 65. It was the 16th and final tie of a game in which neither side led by more than six points.

"We could have put our heads down and went in the tank after Liggins hit that 3,'' Rukavina said, "but that shows what kind of character this team has.''

The Mountain Cats, in becoming the first team outside West Virginia to capture a WVC tournament title, seemed to have the game on ice a couple times after the teams were tied at 31 at halftime.

Pitt Johnstown had the lead last in regulation, and also had the ball last, but neither worked out. Tullis missed a hurried shot off an inbound play as the buzzer sounded in regulation.

Then in OT, the Mountain Cats held a four-point lead at 61-57 and had possession of the ball with 39 seconds remaining after an A-B turnover. That didn't work out, either.

After UPJ's Quinton Davis hit both ends of a 1-and-1 with 7.3 seconds left, his team led 65-62. The Battlers ran a quick weave at the top of the key trying to spring a shooter loose for a long shot.

Hall handed the ball to Liggins with 1.8 seconds left. Liggins was immediately double-teamed by Davis and William Sharpe, but somehow managed to duck under the two defenders, double-clutched in the air and banked home a 3-pointer just after the buzzer sounded.

"This is my eighth year down here,'' said A-B coach Greg Zimmerman, "and I've seen a lot of games. I've never seen an intense game like this for 50 minutes. Both teams just played so doggone hard. Our kids kept getting down and kept coming back. The will to win that game was unbelievable.''

Davis (21 points) canned a 3 to start the second OT and the Mountain Cats never trailed, but it was still interesting until the end.

Hall hit a rebound basket to bring A-B within 74-73 with a minute left in the second OT, and the Battlers got the ball back with 37 seconds to go when a hustling Mark Summerfield hit a loose ball off the leg of Davis and out of bounds with 37 seconds to go.

The discrepancy of two seconds between the shot clock (35 seconds) and game clock would become key.

A-B worked its offense and Hall tried a driving shot that missed with about two seconds left. As players from both teams leaped for the rebound, the horn sounded as if the shot clock had expired. But it was ruled that Hall's shot glanced off the rim, and A-B was given possession with one second to go.

Zach Green inbounded from under the basket to Hall, who tried a 15-foot fadeaway at the horn. The ball scooped around the rim and fell out.

"Me and Quinton talked about it last night,'' Tullis said. "We knew whatever they did, we had to do one better. Every time when we got out there, we knew they were going to fight right back. We just wanted it.''

Reach Rick Ryan at 304-348-5175 or rickr...@wvgazette.com.