LATROBE, Pa. (Dec. 4) – The Saint Vincent men's basketball team extended its season-opening winning streak to seven games with an 88-75 victory over Penn State-Fayette in the Robert S. Carey Student Center.
 
The Bearcats (7-0), who never trailed in the victory, saw four players score in double digits, while forcing 23 Penn State-Fayette (3-6) turnovers.
 
In just 22 minutes of action, Jaden Gales led SVC with 22 points and eight rebounds, while Mike Iuzzolino scored 17 pints in 25 minutes of work, Dev Ostrowski 15 points in 20 minutes and Osyon Jones in 19 minutes.
 
Ostrowski also put together a herculean effort on defense as he recorded nine steals, the most in a game for a Bearcat since B.J. McGill also recorded nine thefts on Nov. 28, 2009, vs. Penn State-Altoona.
 
The Bearcats used the long ball to storm out of the gates and open up a 16-4 lead just two minutes into play, with Iuzzolino hitting a pair of trifectas, and Gales and Ostrowski. After a Fayette buckets, Iuzzolino connected on his third three in less than four minutes to make it 19-7, before fast break layups by Jones and Gales opened it up to 23-7 with 15:36 left in the half.
 
After six straight Lion points cut the gap to 23-13 with 13:36 left, Gales scored four points in a 40-second span, including a thunderous two-handed slam, before layups by Tayler McNeal and Jones sandwiched another three from Ostrowski to give SVC a 34-17 advantage midway through the half. Moments later, Randy Wilkerson's two free throws gave the Bearcats their largest lead of the half, 36-17.
 
The Saint Vincent margin would hover between 14 and 19 points over the next several minutes, before the Lions looked to gain some momentum heading into the half, putting together a lengthy 14-5 run to trim the gap to 47-37 with 21 seconds left. Ostrowski would halt the Fayette charge on the final possession of the half, sinking a three-pointer with less than five seconds left to give the Bearcats a 50-37 lead at the intermission.
 
The Lions scored on the opening trip of the second half to cut the deficit to 11, but the Bearcats stormed right back with a lengthy 26-10 run to open up their biggest lead of the night, 76-50, on a Jovany Philistin three-pointer with 11:04 left in regulation. Over the 8-minute surge, Ostrowski had six points and four steals, while Iuzzolino had five points and Gales and Jones four apiece.
 
The 9-minute run effectively put the game away, as the Bearcats maintained the 20-point lead until the game's final five minutes, and never let the Lions to get closer than 13 points.
 
A total of 11 players found the scoresheet in the win for the Bearcats, while Ostrowski's effort helped the hosts record 17 steals, their most in a game since Jan. 20, 2016, when SVC totaled 19 in a victory at Thiel.
 
Torian Jenkins had a monster game for the Lions in the loss, with a 34-point, 11-rebound double-double. Matt Forbes added 17 points, and Dasilas Jones 11.
 
Saint Vincent will continue its busy week with a pair of big Presidents' Athletic Conference home matchups. The Bearcats welcome Grove City College to the Carey Center for a 7:30 p.m. bout on Wednesday, Dec. 6, before hosting Geneva three days later at 6 p.m.