MEADVILLE, Pa. (Feb. 21)- Despite a late comeback effort, the Saint Vincent men's basketball team fell in the PAC Tournament Quarterfinals at Allegheny by a score of 79-74.
 
Shemar Bennett led the way for Saint Vincent with a 23-point, 17 rebound double-double for the Bearcats. Mike Iuzzolino added 20 points and three rebounds and Jaden Gales added 17 points and six rebounds for the Bearcats. Osyon Jones scored eight points while grabbing two rebounds and Corey Harden scored six points off the bench to round out the scoring for Saint Vincent.
 
It was Saint Vincent who took the early advantage in the first half. The Bearcats scored six of the first eight points in the half. Iuzzolino scored the first basket of the game and after an Allegheny basket, Saint Vincent scored the next two baskets on back-to-back driving layups by Jones and Bennett.
 
Allegheny answered with a quick 5-0 to take their first lead of the game at 7-6. Over the next five minutes of play the Bearcats and Gators traded points as Allegheny still held a slight lead at 15-4 with 10:20 remaining in the half.
 
The Gators took control for the next couple of minutes as Allegheny went on an 8-0 run, holding the Bearcats scoreless for a little over two minutes of play as the Gators lead increased to nine at 23-14 with 8:30 to play in the half.
 
Over the next four minutes of game action, Allegheny increased their lead over the Bearcats to 11, their largest lead of the half at 31-20 with just under five minutes remaining in the half. The Bearcats started to claw back from that point of the half on.
 
Saint Vincent cut the Gators lead to nine at 35-26 and then scored the next four points on baskets by Gales and Bennett to get back to within five at 35-30 and continued to cut into the Gators lead at 37-34 after another layup by Iuzzolino.
 
The Gators increased their lead back up to five by the end of the half after a couple of free throws at 39-34. Bennett scored 14 points, while grabbing six rebounds in the half for Saint Vincent. Gales added eight points and four rebounds for SVC in the half. The Bearcats shot a strong 47 percent in the half on 14-30 shooting.
 
In the second half it was much of the same story as the first half. Allegheny quickly increased their lead back up to seven at 43-36 less than two minutes into the second half. Saint Vincent cut the lead right back to four after a free throw by Iuzzolino followed by a layup from Gales, cutting it to 43-39.
 
The Gators answered with a 7-1 run to increase their lead to ten at 50-40. Over the next several minutes of play the Allegheny lead hovered between 7-10 points as the Gators still held a commanding nine-point lead at 60-51 with 9:12 remaining in the half.
 
Ove the next several minutes the Bearcats and Gators continued to trade baskets as Allegheny's lead still held steady at nine, 75-66 with 2:36 remaining in the half.
 
The Bearcats attempted to comeback late as the Bearcats cut the Allegheny lead to just four after back-to-back layups by Bennett, as Saint Vincent still trailed 75-71. After a made basket by the Gators, Iuzzolino answered with a big three-pointer to cut the Allegheny lead to three at 77-74 with five seconds remaining.
 
After a Saint Vincent timeout, the Bearcats fouled the Gators and Allegheny knocked in their free throws to close the game out, winning 79-74, ending the Bearcats PAC Tournament.
 
In the second half, Allegheny and Saint Vincent tied 40-40. Overall, the Bearcats shot 45 percent from the field (27-60) and 3-11 from beyond the three-point line. SVC outrebounded the Gators 39-35 in the game as well.  
 
The Bearcats end their season with a 15-11 record overall and 11-9 record in the PAC. Allegheny advances to the PAC Championship Tournament Quarterfinals to take on Thiel, who defeated Geneva on Tuesday night.