PHOTO GALLERY

The SVC men's basketball team defeated first place Thomas More by a score of 65-50 in a Presidents' Athletic Conference matchup in Latrobe.

The teams traded baskets in the early going, with Thomas More taking a 2-0 lead, followed by a dunk from Austin Dedert to tie the game.  After a three from the Saints, Matt D'Amico answered at the 18:27 mark with a three for the Bearcats.  SVC took its first lead of the game on a driving lay-in by Kyle Evans.
 
A pair of threes by David Stephen and a dunk by Shemar Bennett gave the Bearcats a 15-9 lead, then Josh Duda came in and hit a three to give the Bearcats a 9-point edge.
 
Later the Saints bounced back to make it a five-point game, but another three by Stephen, and a driving layup by Bennett gave SVC a 27-17 lead with just over six minutes left in the half.
 
A jumper by Evans and another score from Bennett gave SVC its biggest lead of the game, 36-22 with just over two minutes remaining in the half, but from there the remainder of the half was played at the free throw line, with Thomas More outscoring SVC 6-1 to make it 37-28 at the break.
 
The Bearcats scored six straight points to open the half, thanks to strong play from Kyle Evans.  After grabbing a defensive rebound, Evans went the length of the court to score on a layup, then blocked a shot and scored on a jumper.  He then added another layup at the 16:50 mark, giving the hosts a 45-28 advantage.  
 
A reverse layup by Bennett at the 11:35 mark was followed by a jumper from D'Amico and a layup by Dedert, giving the Bearcats a 20-point lead, 55-35 just past the midway point of the second half.

From there, SVC continued to hold off the Saints, holding them to just 50 points on the night, despite the Saints committing just six turnovers.  SVC held the rebounding edge, 37-30, and blocked 7 shots as a team.

Evans led all scorers in the game with 13 points, while also adding 7 rebounds and 7 assists.  D'Amico scored 12 points and Bennett had 10.  Dedert and Kromka each had 8 rebounds.

Saint Vincent is now 13-4 in the conference, while Thomas More drops to 15-2.  The Bearcat victory snapped the Saints 12-game winning streak. Thomas More continues to lead the conference by one game over Bethany (14-3), with SVC in third.  The Bearcats wrap up the regular season with a home contest against Westminster on Saturday (February 17) at 6PM. The contest will serve as Senior Day for Saint Vincent.