LATROBE, Pa. (Dec. 6) – The Saint Vincent men's basketball team fired on all cylinders to improve to 8-0 with a rousing 88-60 victory over Grove City in a Presidents' Athletic Conference matchup in the Robert S. Carey Student Center.
For the fifth time this season, Saint Vincent sophomore Dev Ostrowski eclipsed the 20-point mark, as he led four Bearcat scorers in double figures with 28 points. The Bearcats shot 55 percent from the field (36-65) and 46 percent from behind the arc (10-22), as the hosts led for the game's final 38 minutes.
Along with Ostrowski, who shot 11-for-19 from the field and 6-for-9 from deep, senior Osyon Jones and sophomore Jaden Gales each scored 15 points, while Mike Iuzzolino added 12 on a 4-for-8 showing from behind the arc. Jones went 7-for11 from the field, while Gales grabbed a team-high eight rebounds and made all five of his attempts at the foul line. Senior point guard Tayler McNeal played an efficient 21 minutes, scoring six points, on 3-for-3 shooting, while adding six assists and four rebounds. In all, nine different Saint Vincent players scored at least two points.
Iuzzolino connected on his first three-pointer of the night just 19 seconds into play to stake the Bearcats out to a 3-0 lead. The Wolverines answered with back-to-back buckets to take an early 4-3 lead, but the Bearcats would then counter with a quick 10-0 run, with Ostrowski nailing a pair of threes and Jones cashing in on a dunk and a layup, to give the Bearcats a 13-4 advantage just 3:30 into play. From there, the lead continued to grow, with Ostrowski's steal and layup pushing it to 23-8 with 11:43 left in the half, before layups by Jaden Bailey and Jones made it 27-8 with 9:35 remaining. A conventional three-point play from Gales gave the Bearcats their largest lead of the half, 38-17, with 5:08 to go. The Wolverines countered with eight straight points to cut the gap to 38-25 with 3:28 left, but SVC outscored their visitors 9-6 over the final three minutes of the half, with a three-pointer from Iuzzolino and two inside buckets from Gales, to take a 47-31 lead at the intermission.
The second half started in much of the same fashion as the first for the Bearcats, who continued to add onto the lead. Iuzzolino and Ostrowski each buried threes in the opening two minutes, before McNeal connected with Gales for a highlight-reel alley-oop dunk to extend the SVC lead to 58-35 with 17:27 left in regulation. The Bearcats continued to roll, with Ostrowski scoring seven points in an 80-second span to up the lead to 65-39, followed by a pair of Jones layups and an Iuzzolino trifecta that opened up a 74-43 advantage with 11 minutes left. SVC would maintain a lead between 27 and 32 points the rest of the way as the breezed down the stretch to seal the victory.
Grove City was led on the scoresheet by Jonah Bock, who scored 18 points, while teammate Chase Yarberough bucketed 10 points and Kyle Randle grabbed a team-best seven rebounds.
After the Grove City win, the Bearcats have now topped 80 points in six of their first eight victories, as they lead the PAC with an average of 87.5 points per game. It was also the fifth time in eight games that Saint Vincent shot 50 percent or better from the field, as they boast the league's top field goal percentage (.492).
The Bearcats are off to their best start to a season since the 2008-09 squad began 9-0. Saint Vincent will now head into its toughest test of the season, as it welcomes longtime rival Geneva College to the Carey Center for a 6 p.m. Saturday night showdown with first place in the PAC on the line. The two teams are the last two with unbeaten conference marks, as the Golden Tornadoes will bring a 6-0 PAC record into the matchup.
In addition to welcoming Geneva to the Carey Center on Saturday, the Bearcats will also welcome Santa Claus to the gym on "Christmas in the Carey," with all fans entitled to a free photo with the jolly old elf. Fans are encouraged to wear their favorite Christmas apparel to the game, which will feature free admission for all spectators.
