LATROBE, Pa. (Jan. 5) – The Saint Vincent men's basketball team was unable to recover from a sluggish start, as its late rally fell short in a 65-62 loss to Bethany College in a Presidents' Athletic Conference matchup in the Robert S. Carey Student Center.

Facing a 14-point halftime deficit, Saint Vincent (7-7, 3-6 PAC) twice rallied to cut the Bethany (1-13, 1-8 PAC) lead to just two points in the game's final 80 seconds, but the comeback ran out of steam, with the Bison forcing a steal on SVC's final possession with three seconds left in regulation.

Jaden Gales led all scorers with 21 points, while adding nine rebounds. Teammate Shemar Bennett recorded a 20-point, 12-rebound double-double in the losing effort, while Tayler McNeal was a third SVC player to score in double figures, netting 11 points.

The Bearcats were hamstrung by their shooting throughout the evening, going 0-for-14 from behind the arc and 14-for-28 from the foul line.

After Bethany jumped out to a 7-0 lead four minutes into play, Gales scored six unanswered points to pull SVC to within one with 13:52 left in the half. The Bison would then counter with a 15-2 run over the next five minutes to open up a 22-8 advantage with just inside nine minutes. SVC battled back to cut the gap to 10 points on a McNeal layup with 4:35 left, but the Bethany lead would eventually swell to 39-25 at the break.

In the opening 20 minutes, the Bearcats shot 29 percent (9-for-31), compared to a 52 percent mark (17-for-33) by Bethany.

SVC promptly began to chip away at the deficit from the outset of the second half, with buckets by McNeal and Mike Iuzzolino pulling SVC to within single digits, 43-34, with 14:45 to go. Eighty seconds later, Gales threw down an emphatic, one-handed slam to awaken the crowd and cut the deficit to 43-36.

Bethany countered with a quick 11-5 run over the next four minutes to regain a 13-point lead, 54-41, but SVC again chipped away. Following a pair of Gales free throws, Bennett scored six straight points, capped off with a coast-to-coast steal and two-handed dunk, to close the deficit to 56-48, before a Gales jumper made it a six-point game, 56-50, with 7:01 to go.

The Bethany lead hovered between six and eight points over the next several minutes before SVC put together a quick 6-0 spurt, with two points from McNeal and four from Bennett, to make it 62-60 with 1:21 remaining. After a Bethany bucket with 51 seconds left, a McNeal layup again made it a two-point game with 11 seconds to go. The Bearcats were forced to foul, with Bethany making one of two attempts, to keep it a one-possession game with eight seconds left. The Bearcats would get no closer, however, as the Bison forced a turnover with three seconds left to seal the game.

Saint Vincent recovered from the slow first half to outscore the Bison 37-26 over the final 20 minutes, but was hampered by a 7-for-18 second half mark from the foul line.

The Bearcats out-rebounded the Bison 44-41 for the game, turning 14 offensive rebounds into 16 second-chance points, while SVC outscored Bethany 42-30 in the paint. Bethany won the turnover battle by a narrow margin, committing 17 while forcing 18.

The Bison were led on the scoresheet by Chance Wells, who scored 18 points, while Tony Fox scored 14 points with seven rebounds.

The Bearcats will now have a six-day layoff before looking to snap the five-game losing streak on Wednesday, Jan. 11, when they host PAC foe Franciscan at 7 p.m. in the Carey Center.