LATROBE, Pa. (Nov. 10) – The Saint Vincent men's basketball team came back from a 13-point halftime deficit to earn a 73-67 overtime victory over Juniata in a raucous Robert S. Carey Student Center.
 
Trailing 39-26 at halftime and 51-33 with 14 minutes left in regulation, the Bearcats roared back, with Tayler McNeal's driving floater at the buzzer forcing a 63-63 tie and sending the game into overtime. Saint Vincent (2-0) would then control play over the five extra minutes, outscoring the Eagles (0-1) 10-4, with a long McNeal three with 20 seconds left sealing the victory.
 
McNeal and Jaden Gales shared the game-high with 16 points apiece, while teammates Shemar Bennett and Logan Karvoski each netted 13 for SVC. Gales also grabbed 10 rebounds to record his first career double-double.
 
After shooting a pedestrian 33 percent in the first half (10-for-30), the Bearcats connected on 14 of 26 attempts in the second half before going 3-for-4 in the extra session. Conversely, Juniata shot 64 percent (16-for-25) in the first half, but just 40 percent (12-for-30) over the second half and overtime.
 
Facing an 18-point deficit six minutes into the second half, Karvoski kick-started a long Bearcat run with a layup and long three-pointer, before Bennett grabbed a steal and cashed in on a traditional three-point play to pull SVC to within 12, 51-39. Layups from Diego Martinez and Osyon Jones cut the deficit to 10, 53-43, before McNeal scored four points in a 20-second span to pull SVC to within single digits, 56-49, with 8:55 left.
 
The Bearcat defense clamped down, holding the Eagles scoreless over the next four minutes, while SVC's offense stayed hot. With 8:22 left, a Gales bucket pulled SVC to within 56-51, before Bennett and Gales sunk layups 20 seconds apart to tie the game at 56 with 7:35 remaining and cap off a 17-5 run.
 
Juniata jumped ahead 61-57 with 2:30 left, before McNeal and Gales scored baskets to tie the game with 50 seconds left. Kyle Ruggery's jumper with 24 seconds left would then put the Eagles up 63-61 and set up McNeal's heroics.
 
Following a time out with 15 seconds left, McNeal took a pass from Andrew Reed and drove from the right elbow, sinking a right-handed floater off the glass at the buzzer to send the game into overtime.
 
An Osyon Jones layup 13 seconds into the extra session gave SVC its first lead since the opening two minutes of the first half, and the Bearcats wouldn't trail the rest of the way. The Eagles pulled to within two, 69-67, with 45 seconds left, but McNeal would put the exclamation point on the win with a long three-pointer with 21 seconds left to give SVC a five-point lead. Karvoski would close out the win with a free throw with one second left.
 
In the first half, Juniata scored on seven of its first nine possessions to open up a 16-11 lead with 12:13 left until the break. A pair of free throws from Martinez, followed by a Gales jumper, pulled SVC to within one, but the Eagles would then erupt on a 15-0 run to open up a 31-15 lead with five minutes left. The Juniata lead would eventually swell to 16, 37-21, before they took a 39-26 margin into the break.
 
Led by Gales, the Bearcats out-rebounded the Eagles 39-30 on the night, with Jones grabbing six caroms and McNeal five. Along with his team-high 10 boards, Gales also paced SVC with four blocked shots, while McNeal nabbed a team-leading two steals.
 
Ross Conway came off the bench to lead three Juniata scorers in double figures with 15 points. Nick Rigby scored 14 points and grabbed a team-best seven rebounds, while Chase Husted finished with 12 points, on a 6-for-6 showing from the field.
 
"The student section really came out tonight," said Saint Vincent head coach D.P. Harris. "It was loud, it was fun and we had some kids really step up tonight.
 
"It was impressive," he continued. "I loved the way Logan played. 'Mr. Big Shot' Tayler did his job, and I can't say enough about Shemar and Gales. I'm proud of all of our kids. I really like our moxie."
 
The Bearcats will close out their busy week with a 7 p.m. non-conference matchup against Carlow University on Saturday, Nov. 12, in the Robert S. Carey Student Center.