PHOTO GALLERY

The Saint Vincent men's basketball team only held a lead for 2:47 but led by one as the final horn sound, winning 67-66 over Bethany College. Saint Vincent improves to 9-5 with a Presidents' Athletic Conference record of 4-1 while the Bison fall to 1-13 and 0-5 in conference play.
 
The Bison opened the scoring with three from the right corner. Shemar Bennett got the Bearcats on the board as he backed down the defender on the left block for the layup. After two Bethany makes and a turnover by SVC, Saint Vincent called a timeout trailing 7-2 at the 17:26 mark. Bennett made two frees but the Bison answered with the next three points to hold a 10-4 lead. 
 
Andrew Reed cut the deficit to four with a finger-roll layup then Cletus Helton made two free throws to pull the Bearcats within two. Bethany increased its led to seven after a layup and a three from the right wing. Drew Normandin brought the score to 15-10 after two free throws with 11:50 to go in the first.
 
After the Bison went back up by seven, David Stephen and Bennett scored consecutive layups trail 17-14. Bethany scored the next three points but a Helton layup kept SVC within four. Helton pulled Saint Vincent to trailing two but the Bison went back up by four on the next position. Bennett followed by Helton for consecutive layups tied the game at 22 with 5:37 to go in the first half. 
 
Saint Vincent took its first lead of the game as Bennett battled in the post for a layup but the lead was short lived as Bethany tied the game 10 seconds later. The Bison regained the lead with a layup and free throw to lead 27-25. After six-straight points by Bethany, Josh Duda hit a three from the left wing to cut the host's lead to two. Bethany increased the lead back to five but Duda hit another three and kept the Bearcats within two, 33-31, at the half.
 
The start of the second half began with both teams traded scores until Helton nailed a three from the right corner to give the Bearcats a 41-40 lead with 16:54 on the clock. A minute later, Trey Shifflett gave the Bison the lead with a three-point make. 
 
Helton tied the game at 43 with a layup followed by a Stephen free throw to grab a 44-43 lead. Bethany regained the lead after a three but Bennett evened the game at 46 with a layup from the right block. 
 
The seesaw affair continued as both teams swapped layups until Khalil Wilson converted a three-point play for the Biosn to take a 53-50 lead with 10:45 to go in regulation. Saint Vincent tried to tie the game several times but the hosts kept the edge, 57-53 with 8:32 on the clock.
 
Every time SVC kept cutting the Bethany lead to two points, the Bison answered by increasing the lead back to four. After a rejection on the defensive side, Bennett ran the court and threw down a dunk in traffic to only trail 61-59 with 5:05 on the clock.
 
The strong defense continued for the Bearcats as Helton forced a turnover and then drew a foul. Helton went 1-2 on the trip as Saint Vincent only trailed by one. Bethany completed a three-point play to go up four points but Stephen made a layup from under the hoop to cut the deficit to two. 
 
Stephen tied the game at 64 as he drove the right lane with 3:01 remaining in the half. With the game tied at 64, the Bison called a full timeout at the 1:37 mark. Out of the timeout, Saint Vincent forced a shot clock violation and a turnover. Off an offensive rebound, Bennett went up strong and drew a foul. Bennett made the first free throw but missed the second as SVC led 65-64 with 47 seconds left.
 
Bethany inbounded the ball and off two screens, the hosts made a 15-footer to take a 66-65 edge. On the next possession, Helton made a spin move and converted a floater in the lane to take a 67-66 lead. The Bison had a chance with a layup inside five seconds but the shot bounced off the rim with Bennett coming down with the rebound.
 
Bennett was fouled with 1.9 seconds on the clock but he missed the front end of the one-and-one opportunity. Bethany corralled the rebound and called a timeout. Off the inbound, Bethany attempted a long three but it fell short. Saint Vincent held on for the victory, 67-66.
 
The Bearcats were led by Bennett who scored 22 points with 19 rebounds. Helton and Stephen finished in double digits with 18 and 14, respectively. SVC scored 44 of its 67 points from the paint and outrebounded the Bison by five (39-34).
 
Saint Vincent returns to home for a PAC matchup with the Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets. Game time at 7:30 p.m.