BOX SCORE

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The Waynesburg Yellow Jackets earned a 68-62 Presidents' Athletic Conference win over a Bearcat squad that was missing a pair of starters.

The loss drops Saint Vincent to 19-5 overall and 12-3 in the PAC. The Bearcats are still in the running for the league's top spot in the upcoming conference tournament, but must win Saturday at Thomas More (3 p.m.) and have Washington & Jefferson defeat current league leader Bethany in West Virginia the same day.

Both teams played a tight first half with Waynesburg holding the lead or the game being tied for the opening 11 minutes. Senior Dillon Stith hit a jumper with 8:36 to play in the period and then a layup 48 seconds later to put SVC ahead, 17-13. Following a Waynesburg bucket, Stith knocked down a three-pointer at the 6:41-mark that put the guests up five points.

Saint Vincent's lead would grow to was seven points, 28-21, with 2:27 showing on the clock when sophomore Geoff FuQuay recorded the and-one on a put-back layup. The Yellow Jackets, however, closed out the half on a 7-0 run, thanks in part to a technical foul assessed against the SVC bench, which sent the two teams into the locker room knotted, 28-28.

In the second half, the two teams once again wouldn't let anyone get too far ahead, keeping the game within four points for the first half of the period. SVC built its largest lead of the second half at the 11:10-mark when senior Isaac Turner recorded a fast break layup after assisting on a fast break layup by sophomore Pat Jones on the previous possession. The score at that point was 47-43 Saint Vincent.

Over the next six-plus minutes, Waynesburg out-scored Saint Vincent, 15-2, with the only Bearcat points coming in the form of Stith free throws, capturing a game-best 58-49 lead with 4:51 to play.

SVC would get as close as four points on a put back by Stith at the 2:04-mark and then again on a Turner layup at 1:27, but could not get the game under the threshold. Jones knocked down a triple from the corner with around 20 seconds to go that appeared to make it a three-point (65-62) game, but the shot was waived off when it was ruled Jones had stepped out of bounds after catching the ball.

Saint Vincent, who averages more than 25.5 free-throw attempts per game attempted just 13 in the contest, including just six by Stith, the overwhelming league leader in tries.

Stith and Turner tied for the game high with 23 points apiece, with Stith also turning in his league-leading 15th double-double of the season in pulling down 16 rebounds, including six offensive. Turner led the team with five assists in JC Howard's absence.