LATROBE, Pa. (Dec. 5) – Led by a milestone night from graduate student Shemar Bennett, the Saint Vincent men's basketball team earned a 77-60 victory over Penn State-Fayette in non-conference action at the Robert S. Carey Student Center.
 
Bennett scored 25 points, including the 1,000th of his career, to lead three SVC scorers in double figures. Osyon Jones added 18 points, going 6-for-6 from the field and 6-for-7 from the foul line, while Jaden Gales scored 16 points and grabbed eight rebounds.
 
After Penn State-Fayette (7-4) cut Saint Vincent's (7-2) lead to 56-54 with 7:11 left in regulation, the Bearcats countered with a 10-2 run to take a double-digit lead on a Bennett slam with 5:08 left in regulation. The Bearcats would then pull away down the stretch for the 17-point win.
 
Bennett scored the Bearcats' first nine points of the first half, but the Lions would lead for the game's first 13 minutes. With 6:01 left until the break, Gales burst through the lane to throw down a thunderous one-handed dunk and tie the game at 19. The dunk started a 10-0 Bearcat run, which included Bennett's 1,000th point, scored on a layup in traffic with 2:50 left that made the score 25-19. A minute later, a Gales jumper pushed the advantage to 27-19. The Lions would cut the gap to five, before a Jones layup beat the halftime buzzer and sent SVC into the locker room with a 31-24 lead.
 
The Bearcat lead continued to grow in the opening stages of the second half, with a conventional three-point play by Jones putting the hosts in front 38-26 with 17:41 left in regulation. Saint Vincent's advantage hovered between seven and 10 points over the next several minutes before the Lions chipped away, cutting the gap to 54-49 with 8:28 left and 56-54 with 7:11 left.
 
As he did in the first half, Gales again helped the Bearcats pull away, scoring eight points in a 2-minute span to push the SVC lead to 64-54. An emphatic Bennett dunk gave the Bearcats a 66-54 lead with 5:44 left, and they would close the game on an 11-3 run to account for the final 17-point margin.
 
Fueled by a 61 percent showing in the second half, the Bearcats shot 52 percent (28-for-54) for the night, while going an impressive 19-for-24 from the foul line. The Saint Vincent defense limited Penn State-Fayette to just 35 percent (23-for-65) from the field.
 
Led by eight rebounds from Gales, seven from Tayler McNeal and six from Bennett, Saint Vincent held a healthy 39-31 rebounding advantage, while SVC out-scored PSU-Fayette 46-30 in the paint.

The Lions were led on the scoresheet by Dasilas Jones, who scored 19 points, while teammate Torian Jenkins recorded a 14-point, 12-rebound double-double.
 
The win over Penn State-Fayette kicks off a busy week for Saint Vincent, who will play four games in a six-day span. Up next, the Bearcats will host Presidents' Athletic Conference rival Chatham University on Wednesday, Dec. 7, at 7 p.m. in the Carey Center.