LATROBE, Pa. (Jan. 11) – The Saint Vincent men's basketball team snapped its five-game losing streak in emphatic fashion, defeating Franciscan 73-53 in a Presidents' Athletic Conference matchup in the Robert S. Carey Student Center.

The Saint Vincent (8-7, 4-5 PAC) offense saw seven players score at least seven points, while the SVC defense nabbed 15 steals and forced 23 Franciscan (4-11, 1-9 PAC) turnovers.

Mike Iuzzolino led four double-digit scorers for SVC with 17 points, while Jaden Gales added 14, Shemar Bennett 12 and Osyon Jones 10 on an efficient 5-for-7 from the field. Gales tied for game-high honors with nine rebounds, while Jones and Bennett each grabbed eight as SVC finished with a 36-30 advantage on the glass.

The balanced Saint Vincent offense also saw Tayler McNeal score eight points and Andrew Reed seven on 3-for-3 shooting, while defensively, seven different Bearcats came up with at least one steal, led by three from Gales and two apiece by Iuzzolino, Jones, Bennett, Reed and Diego Martinez. Bennett blocked a team-best three shots.

The Bearcats jumped out to a quick 7-2 lead after a conventional three-point play by Gales three minutes into play, but the Barons battled back to take a 9-7 lead at the 15-minute mark. SVC would regain a five-point lead, 15-10, after a pair of Jones buckets and a Gales jumper, before Franciscan came right back to take a 16-15 lead at the midpoint of the half.

An offensive put-back by Jones with 8:04 left gave the lead back to SVC, 17-16, and ignited a 12-2 Bearcat run, which featured a fast break dunk by Gales, layups from Bennett and McNeal and a pair of Bennett free throws to open up a 27-18 lead with 5:33 left in the half. Over the four-minute surge, SVC forced five Franciscan turnovers, and turned each miscue into points.

The Barons trimmed the deficit to 29-25 with just over two minutes left, before the Bearcats took a 34-27 lead into the locker room.

Saint Vincent's lead would hover between seven and 10 points over the opening six minutes of the second half, before the Bearcats pulled away with another big run. Leading 44-37 with 13:15 remaining, Bennett connected on four free throws in a 70-second span, before Reed picked off a steal and went coast-to-coast to make it 50-37. McNeal and Jones followed with layups, before a long three-pointer from the wing by Iuzzolino capped off a 13-0 run and pushed the SVC lead to 57-37 with 9:17 to go in regulation.

Franciscan looked to chip away at the deficit down the stretch, eventually pulling to within 62-49 with 3:47 to go but would get no closer, as SVC ended the game on an 11-4 run, which included a highlight-reel, fastbreak slam by Corey Harden and a steal and coast-to-coast layup by Nick Peccon, to account for the final 20-point margin.

Over the game's final 20 minutes, SVC outscored Franciscan 36-29, while holding the Barons to just eight field goals on 22 attempts (36 percent).

Franciscan was led by Josh Zimmerman, who scored 13 points and grabbed nine rebounds, while Nicholas Allienello scored 10.
 
The Bearcats will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 14, hosting longtime PAC rival Geneva College at 4 p.m. in the Robert S. Carey Center.