LATROBE, Pa. (Jan. 28) – Behind a career performance from freshman Jaden Gales, the Saint Vincent men's basketball team earned a 101-93 overtime victory over Washington & Jefferson College in front of a sellout crowd in the Robert S. Carey Student Center.
Gales continued his phenomenal rookie campaign by scoring 35 points and grabbing 11 rebounds, as the Bearcats (12-8, 8-7 Presidents' Athletic Conference) avenged an early-season overtime loss to the conference-leading Presidents (14-6, 11-4 PAC).
Mike Iuzzolino was a second Bearcat to have a big afternoon, scoring 24 points in 39 minutes of action, highlighted by a 6-for-11 mark from behind the arc. The six three-pointers are the most by a Bearcat in a game this season.
Osyon Jones tallied his first double-double of the season, totaling 16 points, 10 rebounds and six assists, while Tayler McNeal finished with a line of eight points, even rebounds and five assists. Andrew Reed tied Jones for team-high honors with six assists.
Saint Vincent shot a solid 51 percent (36-for-70) from the field for the afternoon, while also winning the battle from the free throw line in a game that saw the two teams whistled for a combined 53 fouls. SVC shot 69 percent (22-for-32) from the line, including 17-for-23 over the second half and overtime, compared to a 59 percent mark (19-for-32) by the Presidents.
In a fast-paced first half, the teams traded baskets for most of the early going, with eight ties and three lead changes over the first 10 minutes. The Bearcats would then go on a 7-0 run, using two Gales Free throws, a traditional three-point play by Reed and a jumper from Shemar Bennett, to take a 30-23 lead with 8:37 left in the half. The hosts maintained the momentum for the rest of the frame, opening up a 39-28 lead on a long Iuzzolino three-pointer before taking their largest lead of the half, 43-30, on a Jones offensive putback with 3:02 left. W&J would eventually cut the margin to 45-38 at the break.
Iuzzolino sank a three-pointer on SVC's opening trip of the second half to open up a 48-40 lead, but the Presidents answered back with a quick 8-0 spurt to tie the game at 48 with 18:06 left. The visitors would stay hot, eventually taking a 58-54 lead with 14:49 to go, before another trey from Iuzzolino tied it at 57 with 13:44 left. The teams then traded baskets over the next several possessions.
A thunderous two-handed slam by Gales with 13:15 left ignited a 12-4 SVC surge, which included three-pointers from Iuzzolino and Jake Demotte, to go in front 71-63 at the 10-minute mark. SVC's lead hovered between five and eight points over the next several minutes, before the Presidents again stormed back with a 9-2 run to tie the game at 79 with 1:32 left.
With 1:04 remaining, Iuzzolino gave SVC the lead on a jumper off of an assist from McNeal, but W&J's Nick Gearhart followed suit to tie it at 81 with 37 seconds left. Jones put SVC back in front on a layup with 12 seconds left, but Gearhart tied it with a bucket in the paint with four seconds left. A last-second SVC jumper was off the mark, sending the game into the extra session.
W&J scored the first two points of the overtime period with a pair of free throws, before a Gales fastbreak layup promptly tied it at 85 with 4:37 to go. The Bearcats then regained the lead on a pair of free throws by Reed, and after the Bearcat defense held W&J scoreless for nearly two minutes, Iuzzolino's sixth three-pointer of the night put SVC up 90-85 with 2:52 left and proved to be the difference.
W&J would close the gap to 92-89 with 1:37 left, but the Bearcats would put the game away at the foul line, as McNeal, Gales and Jones combined to go 9-for-10 from the stripe over the final 40 seconds to seal the wild victory.
The Bearcats outscored the Presidents 18-10 in the overtime period, limiting the visitors to just a 2-for-9 mark from the field.
Led by the double-digit rebounding efforts from Gales and Jones, SVC closed the game with an impressive 49-38 advantage on the glass, with Bennett adding seven rebounds and Corey Harden five. McNeal led SVC with three blocked shots, while Gales recorded two steals.
Matt Sidel led W&J with 28 points and eight rebounds, while Gearhart added 24 points.
For Gales, it marked the second 30-point performance of his freshman campaign. The 35 points are the most scored in a game by a Bearcat since 2014 NABC All-American Dillon Stith netted a school-record 50 in a January 2014 overtime setback at Thiel, while it marked the highest single-game scoring performance for an SVC freshman since Tony Washam, SVC's all-time leading scorer, went for 47 points on Dec. 1, 2001,, against Cedarville.
The Bearcats will once again look to avenge an early-season loss when they return to action on Wednesday, Feb. 1, traveling to PAC foe Chatham for a 7 p.m. bout in Pittsburgh.
