LATROBE, Pa. (Feb. 8)- Visiting Thiel College used a second half rally to defeat Saint Vincent, 67-66, in Presidents' Athletic Conference action in the Robert S. Carey Student Center.
 
Jaden Gales led the way for the Bearcats, scoring 21 points while grabbing seven rebounds and recording four blocks. Shemar Bennett recorded his 11th double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds, while Mike Iuzzolino added 12 points and Osyon Jones 11.
 
Saint Vincent took control early on in the first half with a strong defensive effort. The Bearcats scored eight of the first ten points on a layup by Jones, followed by one made free throw by Bennett, a three-pointer by Iuzzolino, and two made throws by Gales to take an early 8-2 lead.
 
After a Thiel basket, the Bearcats increased their lead to nine at 13-4 after another three-pointer from Iuzzolino. Thiel scored the next five points to cut the Saint Vincent lead to four points at 13-9 with 13:20 remaining in the second half.
 
Both teams traded baskets back and forth over the next six minutes of game time, as the Saint Vincent lead held strong at 21-17 with 7:28 remaining in the first half. The Bearcats then went on a 9-1 run to regain a double-digit lead. A layup and a couple of free throws by Bennett and a jumper and dunk by Jones increased the Bearcats lead to 30-18 with 4:45 remaining in the half.
 
The Bearcats 12-point lead was their largest of the half. Over the remaining 4:45 of the half, Thiel outscored SVC 10-7 to cut the Saint Vincent lead to single digits as the Bearcats still led by nine at 37-28 going into the halftime break.

The second half began in much of the same fashion as the first, with the Bearcats increasing the lead to 46-35 on a made free throw by Jones with 15:34 remaining. The Bearcats continued on the attack scoring the next four points on two free throws by Corey Harden followed by a made jumper by Jones to increase their lead to 15 at 50-35 with 14:05 left, and maintained a 15-point lead over the next four possessions. 
 
Over the next six minutes the Thiel comeback started as the Tomcats cut the SVC lead to nine at 60-51 with 8:14 remaining in the second half. The Tomcats then went on a 12-2 run over the next four minutes of play to take the lead at 63-62 with 4:20 to go in the half.
 
SVC responded with a Gales layup to regain the lead at 64-63 with 3:56 remaining in the game. Thiel once again countered, scoring the next four points to take a 67-64 advantage with under a minute remaining. The Bearcats prombply answered, as McNeal followed up his own missed shot with a tip-in to cut the Thiel lead to one at 67-66.
 
After a missed free throw by the Tomcats, the Bearcats had a chance to win it at the buzzer, but the ball rimmed out as Thiel came away with the 67-66 victory.
 
The Bearcats shot an efficient 24-50 (48 percent) from the field, while scoring 42 points in the paint, 21 fast break points, and 11 points off turnovers in the loss.

Saint Vincent will now have a week-long layoff before opening the final week of the regular season by traveling to West Virginia to take on Bethany on Wednesday, Feb. 15, at 7 p.m.