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CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. (Jan. 12) - The Bearcats held a 10-point lead in the second half, but were unable to hold on, as Thomas More handed the Saint Vincent men's basketball team its first Presidents' Athletic Conference loss of the season, 64-59.

With the loss, the Bearcats drop to 11-5 on the season and fall into a tie for first place in the conference at 6-1. Thomas More improves to 13-3 this year and 6-1 in the league.

A jumper by sophomore forward Sean Kett at 19:31 started the scoring in the game, and after a Saints score, two free throws by sophomore forward Grant Latus and a fastbreak layup by Kett put SVC up 6-2 at the 17:55-mark.

Junior guard Isaac Turner then scored eight-straight Bearcat points on a pair of free throws and two three-pointers to stretch the Bearcat lead to 14-7 with 11:52 left in the first half.

An 8-1 run by Thomas More tied the game, 15-15, with 9:02 to play in the period, but SVC used a 5-0 run over 1:21 to put the lead back to five points. The Saints, however, countered with their own 5-0 run to tie the game, 20-20, with 4:48 in the half.

Two Kett layups at 4:24 and 3:26 put the Bearcats back ahead, 24-20, and then a free throw by senior guard Chris Klimchock with 14 seconds and two free throws by Kett with 0.1 second in the half sent SVC into the locker room up, 27-22.

Saint Vincent stretched its lead to 10 points in the second half, 33-23, on a Latus fastbreak layup, but the Saints went on a 19-8 run that lasted around eight minutes to take a 42-40 advantage with 9:55 remaining.

The Bearcats kept the game around four to seven points the majority of the remainder of the game, and a three-pointer by junior forward Dillon Stith cut the margin to two points, 60-58, with 1:39 remaining. Thomas More sealed the win with four free throws down the stretch, 64-59.

For the game, Thomas More shot 46.2 percent (18-of-39) from the field, while SVC was held under 35 percent, 17-of-49. The Saints also shot 26-of-31 (83.9 percent) from the free-throw line, while the Bearcats made just 62.9 percent (22-of-35) from the line.

Latus led the team with 14 points on 5-of-10 from the field, while Kett and Stith each added 11 points. Kett also pulled in a team-high six rebounds.

SVC returns to action on Wednesday, Jan. 16 with a 7:30 p.m. tip-off at Waynesburg in PAC play.