GREENVILLE, Pa. (Nov. 23)- The Saint Vincent men's basketball team fell to Thiel by a score of 73-70 on Saturday afternoon.
 
The Bearcats (2-3, 0-2 PAC) were tied with Thiel (3-3, 2-1 PAC) 30-30 at the half. Thiel went on to outscore Saint Vincent by a 43-40 margin in the second half to hand the Bearcats their second consecutive President's Athletic Conference loss to open the season. SVC missed a potential game-tying three-pointer as time expired in the loss.
 
Three Bearcats scored in double figures with Osyon Jones leading the way with 25 points on 10-16 shooting, while he also grabbed five rebounds as well. Mike Iuzzolino added 17 points on 7-15 shooting, including going 3-7 from beyond the arc.
 
Jevontae Jones also scored in double figures with 13 points, while he also grabbed eight rebounds. Maxwell Gordon was an efficient 3-4 from the field, scoring seven points, while grabbing two rebounds and dishing out four assists.
 
It was a quick start out of the gates for the Bearcats as they paired up some good offense with good defense in the opening few minutes of the game. The Bearcats quickly opened up to an 11-2 advantage just five minutes into the opening half.
 
Over the next few minutes, Thiel slightly cut into the lead, but Saint Vincent still held a nine-point lead at 17-8 with ten minutes to go in the half. The Bearcats would go on to take their first double digit lead of the day at 21-11, but Thiel wouldn't go away.
 
Over the next several minutes the Tomcats went on a 17-7 run to take their first lead of the day at 28-26. Jones quickly answered for SVC on the next possession to tie the game back up at 28-28 after a successful layup with just under a minute and a half to go in the half.
 
The teams traded baskets at the end of the half as the score was tied 30-30 at the halftime break.
 
Saint Vincent shot 46.4% (13-28) from the field in the half, while Thiel was 11-26 (42.3%) from the field. Turnovers were fairly even with Saint Vincent turning it over seven times and Thiel turned it over eight times.
 
Over the first five minutes of the second half, the Bearcats and Tomcats continued to play even as the scored remained tied at 41-41. Over the next few minutes, Thiel went on an 13-6 run to take an eight-point lead (54-47) with about ten minutes left in the half.
 
Saint Vincent climbed back into the game over the next few minutes, cutting the lead to 63-60 after a layup from Osyon Jones followed by a pair of Jevontae Jones free throws with just over five minutes left in the game.
 
The Bearcats continued to cut into that Thiel lead as after an Osyon Jones layup, they cut the score to 69-67 with just over one minute remaining in the game.
 
Thiel took a 73-70 lead with three seconds left in the game and the Bearcats had the ball. Saint Vincent missed what was the potential game-tying three pointer at the buzzer as they fell in Greenville.
 
Asa team the Bearcats shot 29-64 (45.3%) from the field in the loss, while Thiel shot 28-53 (52.8%) from the field in the contest. Saint Vincent forced 19 Thiel turnovers in the game as well, scoring 19 points off of those turnovers.
 
Saint Vincent returns to action on Tuesday, November 26 as they return home to take on Franciscan in a PAC matchup. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. in the Robert S. Carey Center on Tuesday night.