BETHANY, W.Va. (Feb. 15) – The Saint Vincent College men's basketball team held off a late rally from host Bethany to earn a 76-73 road win over the Presidents' Athletic Conference foe.
Jaden Gales led four Saint Vincent (15-9, 11-8 PAC) scorers in double figures with 23 points, while Shemar Bennett corralled a season-high 18 rebounds, as the Bearcats avenged an early season home loss to the Bison (3-22, 3-17 PAC).
Along with his 23 points, Gales grabbed 10 rebounds to record the sixth double-double of his rookie campaign, while Bennett scored 11 points for his fourth straight double-double, and 14th of the year, Mike Iuzzolino added 13 points and Osyon Jones 10 for SVC.
The 18 rebounds grabbed by Bennett are the most in a game for SVC since Feb. 27, 2021, when Bennett recorded a career-high 19, also against Bethany.
Fueled by the efforts underneath of Bennett and Gales, the Bearcats out-rebounded the Bison 49-25, scoring 25 second-chance points off of 17 offensive boards. Saint Vincent also held a decisive 50-22 margin in points in the paint.
Behind four early three-pointers, Bethany jumped out to a 20-13 lead with 12:06 left in the first half, but the Bearcats quickly answered back, led by Corey Harden, who scored six points in a 50-second span on a layup, a jumper and two free throws, to cut the deficit to 20-19. Gales followed with a three-pointer, before Jones' layup in the paint put SVC in front 24-23 with 8:42 left in the half.
The teams traded baskets over the next four minutes, with a Bethany three-pointer ting the game at 28 with 5:06 left, before SVC closed the half on a 10-3 run, with four points from Gales and two apiece from Tayler McNeal, Bennett and Harden, to take a 38-31 lead at the half.
The Bearcats kept the momentum coming out of the break, with a traditional three-point play from Bennett giving them their first double digit lead of the night, 47-37, with just over 15 minutes left. SVC stayed hot, with Andrew Reed's three-pointer, followed by a driving layup by Jones, pushing the score to 54-39 with 13:09 to go. Bethany went back to the long ball to quickly cut into the deficit, countering with an 18-4 run, aided by three three-pointers, to make it a one-point game, 58-57, with 8:23 to go.
After a Gales free throw, Iuzzolino hit a jumper in the paint and then a long three-pointer to push the lead back to five, 64-59, before a Jones steal led to a Gales fast break layup to put SVC up 66-59 with 6:34 remaining. SVC's lead would remain at six points, 74-68, after a Jones layup with 90 seconds left, but Bethany came right back with five straight points, including their 14th three of the night, to again make it a one-point game, 74-73, with 31 seconds to go.
Harden hit the back end of two free throws with 28 seconds remaining, before SVC forced an empty Bethany possession, leading to a 1-for-2 performance at the line from Reed to make it 76-73 with 20 seconds left. On the ensuing possession, Bethany wound the clock down to six seconds, but the SVC defense forced a turnover to seal the tight victory.
Bethany's Troy Hixson led all scorers with 24 points, connecting on six three-pointers, while teammate Chance Wells scored 21 points with four trifectas. Of Bethany's 28 made field goals, 14 came from behind the arc.
Saint Vincent will now close out the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 15, when they travel to face longtime rival Geneva College beginning at 3 p.m.
