The Saint Vincent men's basketball program opens the 2014-15 season this Saturday (November 15) against Denison University.  While the current team will be looking to continue its recent success and win the Presidents' Athletic Conference title for the third straight season, the program as a whole is approaching a very historic milestone.
 
Entering this weekend, Saint Vincent's men's basketball program has produced 998 wins, covering 81 seasons, dating back to its inception in 1928.  The college did not field teams in 1932-33, 1943-44, and from 1950 through 1953.
 
Clem Crowe coached the first Bearcat team, posting a record of 7-9 in the 1928-29 season.  The next year, Crowe's team had its first winning season, 11-7, the first of seven consecutive winning years, which stretched into the tenure of head coach Gene "Red" Edwards, who took over when the program returned from a one-year hiatus in 1933-34.  Edwards, who also served as the SVC football coach for many years, handled the program through 1949-50, when the team was mothballed for three seasons.
 
The winter of 1953-54 brought the debut of a new coach, Oland "Dodo" Canterna, whose new team would struggle through two seasons before going 16-3 in 1955-56, earning national recognition with the George Mikan Award, given to the most improved team in the United States. 

Canterna also developed two of the program's top players of all time, Jack Kalbfus and Bernie Peterson, who became All-Americans in 1958 and 1959, respectively.  They were the first two student-athletes in school history to earn such an honor.  Peterson, along with teammate Harry Folk, became the first two players in school history to reach the 1000-point plateau, with Folk scoring 1,575 points during his four seasons in Latrobe, while Peterson tallied 1,381.
 
In 1970, Canterna decided to focus on his role as the college's athletic director, and hired Bernie Matthews to take over the Bearcat basketball program.  In 1976, Matthews recruited a transfer student named Al Mallah, who led the team to an 18-8 record during his senior season.  Mallah scored 1,109 points in just two years and was named an All-American by United Press International in 1978.  After graduating from Saint Vincent, Mallah played professionally for more than a decade in Greece. 
 
Over the next 20 years, the Bearcats became a force in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA).  The 1980-81 season brought the program's first 20-win season, as Matthews' group posted a record of 21-7.  In 1984-85, the team went 20-11 and Matthews was named District 18 Coach of the Year. 
 
The Bearcats made their first trip to the NAIA National Tournament in 1991, with Matthews earning his second Coach of the Year award.
 
By the late 90s, the program had developed into a powerhouse in the region.  In 1997-98, Matthews, who would eventually top 500 coaching wins, and assistant coach DP Harris watched their program win a school record 28 games against just five losses.  The team went to the national tournament and made it all the way to the Elite Eight, with Daniel Santiago earning National Player of the Year honors.  Santiago would later go on to a career in the National Basketball Association, the first and only Bearcat in history to reach the NBA. 
 
Also starring on the 1997-98 team was Tony Morocco Jr., who set several school records, including eclipsing Folk's scoring record, which had stood for 39 years.  Morocco finished his career with 1,739 points.
 
One of Morocco's teammates during his senior season, a freshman named Terrance Smith, would become the team's next star, earning All America status and leading the team back to the national tournament during his junior season in 1999-2000, when the team went 24-7.  Smith would graduate the following year with 1,819 points, the highest total in school history.
 
In 2001-2002, the Bearcats brought in a pair of freshmen that would take the program to new levels, Tony Washam and Kenny Roberts.  Coached by Matthews during their first two seasons, and by new coach Harris for their final two years, the duo of Washam and Roberts helped lead Saint Vincent to four straight NAIA National Tournaments, posting a record of 97-24 during the span.  The team twice made it to the Elite Eight, and twice earned berths in the Sweet 16 round. 
 
Washam became the school's first-ever NAIA First Team All-American, earning the title as a sophomore.  Both Washam and Roberts  each earned two All-America awards during their careers, and the duo combined for 4,450 points - 1,703 for Roberts (fourth in school history) and 2,747 for Washam, making him the school's all-time scoring leader by more than 900 points. 
 
Washam, now 32, is in his 11^th year playing professionally, currently in Argentina after stops in Israel, France and Brazil. 
 
The team's success continued following the graduation of Washam and Roberts, as Jeff Mallory was named the team's final NAIA All-American in 2006, as the college departed the NAIA the following season to become members of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). 
 
While the team was unable to qualify for post season play in the Presidents' Athletic Conference as provisional NCAA Division III members for the next four seasons, the Bearcats were still successful, winning a school record 26 straight home games from 2007-2009, and winning the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) post season tournament in 2008.
 
In 2013, Coach Harris and the Bearcats captured their first PAC Championship and earned a berth in the NCAA National Tournament, a feat that was repeated in 2014, a year that saw Harris earn his 200^th coaching victory in just his eleventh season.  Dillon Stith was named an All American, the program's first since his older brother, Jeff Mallory, had earned the honor.  Mallory had a front row seat to see it happen, spending four years working with his brother as one of the team's assistant coaches.
 
Through 81 seasons, the Bearcats have posted a record of 998-881, a .531 winning percentage.  The team has produced 31 players that have scored 1000 or more points, 15 All-Americans, and 15 players that have gone on to professional careers, either in the United States or abroad.   
 
The team enters 2014-15 just two wins shy of a milestone, yet focused on winning far more than just those first two contests, in hopes of continuing a tradition started by Clem Crowe and his first Bearcats decades ago.