LATROBE, Pa. (Jan 15)- The Saint Vincent men's basketball team had their win streak snapped in a 72-64 loss to Chatham on Wednesday night.

The Bearcats (11-4, 7-3 PAC) kept the game close, but could never find the offensive consistency to pull away or ahead of Chatham (12-3, 9-1 PAC) in a defensive battle that lasted the whole game.

Maxwell Gordon led the way for the Bearcats scoring 13 points on 5-10 shooting form the field and 2-3 shooting from deep with three steals and one block. Osyon Jones and Mike Iuzzolino were also in double figures scoring 13 and 11 points, respectively. Jaden Gales added 12 off the bench for the Bearcats as well.

The first 10 minutes were back and forth with the Bearcats holding a slight 14-12 lead. Despite not shooting well over this stretch, just 5-17, Saint Vincent was able to get a lead thanks to their aggressiveness. They snagged five offensive rebounds and got to the line six times over this stretch which game them many more scoring opportunities than Chatham, who was more efficient on offense going 6-14 from the field.

The rest of the first half followed a similar note, this time with Chatham just barely edging out Saint Vincent for a 33-28 halftime lead.

The Bearcats offense struggled in this first half, shooting just 31% form the field and 25% from three. Chatham shot 48% from the field and 56% from deep on their end offensively. The Cougars got a big boost from their bench with 17 points. Despite all these advantages they found themselves up just five points at halftime thanks to the effort and aggression from the Bearcats. An impressive 12 offensive rebounds was able to give the Bearcats six more shots than Chatham, which helped keep the Bearcats in the game.

Chatham started the second half on an11-6 run to push their lead to double digits with about 16 minutes to play. Chatham was able to keep their offense consistently rolling while limiting the second chance opportunities for the Bearcats to spark this mini run.

For the next several minutes both offenses went cold, combining to shoot just 2-11 from the field over a three-minute stretch.

Saint Vincent was able to cut the lead to three with a quick 5-0 run but Chatham returned with a small run of their own to push the lead back to seven. The Bearcats were keeping the game close to this point but just couldn't put the run together to close the gap, trailing 52-47 with about 7:30 to play.

After again cutting the lead to three, Chatham was able to rattle off another small run to use their lead back out to 59-52 with about four minutes left. The Bearcats kept getting close, but offensive lapses kept them from fully kicking the door down.

The offense continued to sputter for the Bearcats, and they just could not get over the hump, falling 72-64. 

This loss snaps a nine game win streak for the Bearcats. As a team Saint Vincent shot just 35% from the field and 22% from the arc. The defense kept them in it for as long as they could, but that inefficiency from the field was just too much to overcome in the end.

Saint Vincent will look to bounce back at Grove City on Saturday afternoon, January 18 in another PAC matchup. Tip-off is scheduled for 3:00 p.m.