LATROBE, Pa. (Nov. 15) – The Saint Vincent men's basketball team held off a late charge to defeat Chatham 84-79 in each team's Presidents' Athletic Conference opener at the Robert S. Carey Student Center.
 
Four Saint Vincent (3-0, 1-0 PAC) players scored in double figures, with Dev Ostrowski scoring 22, Osyon Jones 18, Jaden Gales 17 and Mike Iuzzolino 12. The Bearcats outrebounded the Cougars (1-2, 0-1 PAC) 42-36, and shot a solid 85 percent (22-26) from the foul line, including a 5-6 mark over the game's final two minutes to seal the win.
 
Chatham scored the game's first five points, before the Bearcats answered back with a lengthy run. Behind five points from Jones and four from Ostrowski, the Bearcats took their first lead, 11-9, with 14:32 left in the half. The teams traded buckets over the next four minutes, before Saint Vincent got hot from deep. Ostrowski hit a pair of threes in a 22-second span, before Iuzzolino connected from the corner to spur a 9-2 run and give the Bearcats a 26-17 lead with 10:13 left in the half.
 
Momentum would turn the way of the Cougars, who outscored SVC 17-7 over the next nine minutes to regain the lead, 34-33, with 1:30 left in the half. The Bearcats would then end the half with a flurry, scoring the final six points, with two layups from Jones and one from Gales, to gain a 39-34 halftime lead.
 
The Saint Vincent advantage would hover between five and nine points over the opening five minutes of the second half, before the Bearcats rattled off another run to open up their biggest lead of the night. A jumper from Ostrowski pushed SVC in front 56-46 with 14:24 left, before Ostrwoski and Gales connected on three-pointers on back-to-back trips to up the margin to 15, 63-48, less than a minute later. Another three-point play by Jones, followed by Iuzzolino's third three and a pair of foul shots by Tayler McNeal would stake the lead to 21, 71-50, with 10:38 left in regulation.
 
As was the case in the first half, the Cougars would again slowly chip away at the deficit, using a 19-6 run over a 7-minute span to pull to within single digits, 77-69, with 3:22 remaining. A layup by Gales and a free throw from Ostrowski again gave the Bearcats a 10-point margin, 79-69, but the Cougars answered right back, eventually closing the gap to three, 80-77, with 45 seconds to go.
 
With 26 seconds left, the Cougars came up with a steal and a trip to the line, but would misfire on both attempts, to keep the margin at three points. After grabbing the board on the second free throw miss, Gales was fouled and would sink both of his attempts at the line. Chatham quickly countered with a layup, before Jones made two more at the line on the opposite end to push the lead to 89-74 with nine seconds left. An errant three-point attempt by the Cougars would miss the mark on the ensuing trip, and Gales again grabbed the rebound to end the game and seal the win.
 
Gales led the Bearcats on the glass with nine rebounds, with Iuzzolino, McNeal and Jones all totaling six rebounds. McNeal added eight points and a team-leading three assists, while Gales blocked two shots and Jones picked off two steals.
 
Along with Saint Vincent's 85 percent mark from the foul line, the hosts also shot a stellar 53 percent (8-15) from behind the arc, with Iuzzolino and Ostrowski each sinking three trifectas, and Gales two. Conversely, the Bearcats limited the Cougars to just 23 percent (3-13) from distance.
 
Elijah Sutton led the visitors with 25 points, with teammate Luca Robinson posting a 13-point, 10-rebound double-double.
 
The Bearcats will now close out their season-opening four-game homestand on Saturday, Nov. 18, when they welcome PAC rival Westminster to the Carey Center for a 6 p.m. tip.