BEAVER FALLS, Pa. (Feb. 3) – The Saint Vincent College men's basketball team was unable to recover from a sluggish start, with its late-game rally falling short in a 73-69 loss at Presidents' Athletic Conference-leading Geneva College.
 
The Bearcats (18-3, 13-3 PAC) trailed by 11 points at the half and by 15 with just over three minutes remaining in regulation, before answering with a 15-4 run to close the deficit to 69-65 with inside a minute to go.
 
Geneva (20-2, 17-1 PAC) quickly countered to push the lead back up to six, 72-66, with 18 seconds left, but a conventional three-point play by Jaden Gales with 7.3 seconds left made it a one-possession game, 72-69. On the ensuing trip, however, SVC couldn't come up with a steal and was forced to foul, with Geneva sinking a free throw with a second left to account for the final score.
 
Dev Ostrowski led Saint Vincent with 20 points and a team-best nine rebounds. He was one of three SVC players to score in double digits, as Osyon Jones added 14 points and Tayler McNeal 11. Dillon Hod came off the bench to score a career-high nine points on just 10 minutes of action.
 
The Bearcats shot just 35 percent (24-67) from the field, including a 2-17 mark from behind the arc, but kept the game close with a strong night at the foul line, connecting on 19 of 26 attempts.

While Geneva shot 55 percent from the field, the Saint Vincent defense forced 21 turnovers, and converted the miscues into 23 points. The Bearcats also outrebounded the GTs 34-32, with SVC's 16 offensive boards turned into 15 second-chance points.
 
The Bearcats jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the game's first two minutes after an Ostrowski three-pointer, but the Golden Tornadoes answered with a 13-3 run over the next six minutes to open up a 15-10 lead with just inside 13 minutes left in the half. Five minutes later, Ostrowski was fouled on another three-point attempt and sank all three freebies to close the gap to 19-15 with 7:50 left. From there, the Golden Tornadoes gradually increased the lead over the final stages of the half, eventually opening up a 36-25 margin at the break.
 
Ostrowski recorded 15 of SVC's first-half 25 points, though the Bearcats shot just 31 percent (9-29) from the field, compared to Geneva's 56 percent showing (15-27).
 
Saint Vincent looked to chip away at the deficit in the opening stages of the second half, with a jumper from Jones and an offensive put-back by McNeal closing the gap to seven, 40-33, with 15:29 left. Geneva answered by steadily increasing its lead over the next 10-plus minutes, making it 51-37 with 11:28 left before opening up its largest lead of the night, 62-46, with 4:32 remaining.
 
With 3:01 to go, another Jones jumper cut the gap to 65-52, before a McNeal steal led to a Hod three-pointer to make it a 10-point game, 65-55, with 2:43 left. Two Hod free throws brought SVC to within single digits, 65-57, with 1:52 left, and then McNeal scored a pair of baskets and Ostrowski hit two free throws to close the margin to 69-65 with 34 seconds to go. The Bearcats, however, were unable to complete the comeback thanks to Geneva's performance at the line over the final 30 seconds.
 
Isaac Massie scored a game-high 21 points for Geneva, while Payton Triplett added 17 points and Ryan Rachic 15 along with nine boards.
 
The Bearcats will return back home on Wednesday, Feb. 7, to host Bethany College in a PAC battle at 7:30 p.m. in the Carey Center.