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NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (Jan. 26) - Senior guard Chris Klimchock and junior forward Dillon Stith each scored 20 points as the Bearcats stayed tied for first place in the Presidents' Athletic Conference with an 82-70 win at Westminster.

The Saint Vincent men's basketball team keeps pace with Thomas More atop the league standings with a 9-1 conference record, while improving to 14-5 on the season. Westminster drops to 6-13 overall and just 2-9 in the PAC.

The Bearcats got out of the gates quickly to start the game, opening up a 15-2 lead at the 15:38-mark of the first half. Stith opened the scoring with a layup before Westminster tied the game, 2-2, just prior to the start of a 13-0 Bearcat run. Klimchock hit a pair of three-pointers during the spurt, while junior guard Isaac Turner also added a triple and Stith and sophomore forward Grant Latus added buckets.

Westminster then countered with a 7-0 run that was stopped by Klimchock's third three-pointer of the contest at the 11:31-mark to make it 18-9 Saint Vincent.

After four-straight points by sophomore forward Sean Kett in a two-point game pushed the lead to six points, 24-18, with 8:44 to play in the period, a Westminster triple was followed by a technical foul on Westminster first-year coach Kevin Siroki. Turner made both foul shots to push the lead back to five points and Stith used a nice pass from senior guard Edmond Wright II to lead to a fastbreak dunk at the 7:36-mark, 28-21.

A quick 6-0 run by the Titans made it a one-point game with 6:01 remaining but SVC would out-score the hosts, 15-5 over the final 5:51 to take a 43-32 lead into the break. During the run, Klimchock scored eight points, including a pair of three-pointers, while Turner added five points in the span.

Saint Vincent began the second half on a 13-5 run that included seven points from Stith and four points from Latus and pushed the margin to 19 points, 56-37, with 14:29 to play. Westminster eventually cut the margin to 10 points, 64-54, with a three-point play at 8:28, but the Bearcats responded with an 11-0 flurry to push the margin over 20 points, 75-54. SVC got points over the run from Stith, Wright, Kett and senior forward Armani Fountain.

Fountain capped off the victory with a dunk at the 1:59-mark to make the score 80-65 and seal the game before the Bearcats posted the eventual 82-70 win.

The Bearcats finished 43.9 percent (29-of-66) from the field for the game and held a slim, 43-40, margin in rebounding. Saint Vincent also recorded 19 assists on its 29 made field goals, while also committing just eight turnovers compared to 14 for Westminster.

Stith and Klimchock were joined in double figures by Turner and Fountain who posted 12 and 10 points, respectively. Turner added six assists while Wright chipped in five helpers. Latus finished with eight points and 11 rebounds, marking his second-straight double-digit rebound game.

Saint Vincent will be back home for two game next week, the first of which is Wednesday, Jan. 30, at 7:30 p.m. against Thiel.