PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Jan. 10)- The Saint Vincent men's basketball team extended their perfect record to 15 consecutive wins, defeating Chatham, 83-66 after a big second half run on the road.
 
Saint Vincent (15-0, 10-0 PAC) trailed for the majority of the first half and for the first seven minutes of the second half, before going on a big run over the final 13 minutes of the game to defeat Chatham (9-6, 7-3 PAC).
 
Trailing 49-41 seven minutes into the second half, the Bearcats outscored the Cougars 42-21 over the remaining 13 minutes. That run was all a part of a second half where Saint Vincent outscored the Cougars by a 20-point margin at 50-30.
 
Four Bearcats scored in double figures with Jaden Gales recording a game-high 21 points, on an efficient 7-12 shooting night from the field. Gales also grabbed seven rebounds tallied one block as well.
 
Tayler McNeal was an important piece for SVC as well, scoring 17 points, while also dishing out seven assists and grabbing four boards. Dev Ostrowski added 16 points and nine rebounds, while Osyon Jones added 15 points and grabbed four rebounds as well.
 
Mike Iuzzolino and Jaden Bailey rounded out the scoring for the Bearcats, scoring eight and six points respectively.
 
Jones got Saint Vincent going right out of the gate with a three-point play to open up the contest, putting in the layup and finishing at the free throw line to give SVC the early 3-0 lead. The Bearcats continued on the attack early on, with McNeal scoring the next five points for Saint Vincent, increasing their lead to 8-2.
 
Chatham answered over the next couple of minutes with a 9-0 run to take an 11-10 lead, a lead the Cougars lost just one more time from that point on the rest of the half.
 
The Cougars continued with the momentum, eventually pushing their lead to five at 18-13 just about halfway through the half but the Bearcats answered. Saint Vincent scored the next six points with four coming from Jones to take a 19-18 lead.
 
Over the next few minutes, the Cougars controlled the flow of the game, taking the lead back to seven points at 36-29 before SVC scored the final four points of the half to cut the Chatham lead to just three at 36-33 going into halftime.
 
The Bearcats were 12-30 (40 percent) from the field and 3-7 (42.86 percent) from beyond the arc in the opening half. Chatham on the other hand shot 45 percent (15-33) in the half and 3-10 (30 percent) from the three-point line.
 
Out of the locker room, Saint Vincent scored the first four points on jumpers from McNeal and Gales to give them the lead at 37-36. The Cougars once again grabbed that lead right back, pushing their lead back up to eight at 49-41 just over five minutes into play in the half.
 
That's when SVC went on their big run and took full control of the game. The Bearcats held Chatham scoreless over the next four minutes of play as the Bearcats climbed back in front with a 10-0 run to take a 51-49 lead.
 
The Saint Vincent momentum continued as the Bearcats eventually increased that lead to 59-51 after two Ostrowski free throws with 7:21 to go.
 
The Cougars cut the lead to six with six minutes to go but that's the closest they'd get the rest of the way. The Bearcats converted good defense into offense, limiting the Cougars to just 12 points over the final 7:21 to record their 15^th straight win.
 
Saint Vincent was an efficient 48 percent (29-60) from the field in the game, while limiting Chatham to shoot just 41 percent (27-66). The Bearcats were very efficient from beyond the arc as well going 5-10.
 
Chatham shot just 25 percent (6-24) for the game. The Bearcats went 20-25 (80 percent) from the foul line as well. Defensively, Saint Vincent scored 23 of their points off of 16 Chatham turnovers and scored 40 points in the paint as well.
 
Saint Vincent will now return home to take on Franciscan, looking to keep their perfect record alive on Saturday, January 13. Tip-off is scheduled for 6 p.m. in the Robert S. Carey Center on Saturday.