GROVE CITY, P.A. (Jan. 18)- The Saint Vincent men's basketball team got back in the win column with an overtime thriller at Grove City winning 80-78 on Saturday afternoon.
The Bearcats (12-4, 8-3 PAC) struggled to get it going from deep but got contributions up and down the roster to out last Grove City (12-4, 9-2 PAC) in what was a tight and competitive contest throughout.
Terek Crosby gave the Bearcats the biggest boost off the bench scoring 18 points on 8-11 shooting from the field and 2-5 shooting from deep. Dev Ostrowski went on a crucial scoring stretch to win the game in overtime thanks to seven quick points in the period. Overall he scored 18 points and impacted the game in other ways with seven rebounds, three assists, a steal, and a block. The Bearcats had four players in double figures with Osyon Jones and Jaden Gales scoring 14 and 10 points respectively.
It was a tight game to start the first half, with the score tied 19-19 with about 10 minutes left in the half. Both offenses were clicking from the jump. Ball movement was a big emphasis on both teams as 13 total players scored in the first 10 minutes. Saint Vincent was a little less efficient than Grove City but made up for it with high effort on the offensive glass and forcing turnovers.
The rest of the half followed suit as the teams traded buckets thanks to more good ball movement and smart offense. Both teams shot 6-12 from the field in the final 10 minutes with the scoring being spread throughout the roster once again. Thanks to a tough floater as the clock expired Grove City took a 36-34 lead into halftime.
Saint Vincent's season so far has been defined by explosive scoring outburst by individual stars, but they showed in the first half they can win in other ways as well. The ball did not stick and everyone made contributions. The Bearcats trailed by two (36-34) at the halftime break.
They opened the first five minutes of the half on a 14-2 run to push the lead to double digits. They got this 48-38 lead mostly on the back of Terek Crosby who scored 10 points in the span. On top of Crosby's stellar shot making the Bearcats defense held Grove City to 1-9 shooting with three turnovers over those five minutes.
Until about eight minutes left in the game the teams settled back into a rhythm of trading baskets thanks to diversified offense.
From there, Grove City went on a three minute blitz to completely close the gap and tie the game at 59-59 with about five minutes to play.
The game settled back into its back-and-forth rhythm with Grove City still getting contributions from everywhere and Osyon Jones doing his best to carry the Saint Vincent offense, forcing the issue inside and either scoring or getting to the line.
After some missed free throws and a big defensive stand, Maxwell Gordon made a fantastic read off a drive to hit Mike Iuzzolino wide open for a huge three to give the Bearcats a 69-67 lead with about 1 minute left.
Grove City immediately responded with a nice drive and layup on the other end to tie the game. Ostrowski missed a three for the lead, but after a fight for the board and jump ball the Bearcats got the ball back and payed it off with a stellar layup around the help defense by Iuzzolino to put Saint Vincent back up 71-69 with just 11 seconds to play.
Grove City put pressure on the rim, and the officials, going hard towards the basket and with just 0.4 seconds left got a foul call. Grove City's Chase Yarborough knocked down both free throws to send the game into OT tied 71-71.
Ostrowski started OT hot, scoring four of the Bearcats first six points in OT. His shot making was not enough to pull away however thanks to Grove City's ability to get to the line. After Dev's first miss of the period on a tough layup Grove City was able to tie the game at 77-77 with about 1:20 to play.
Dev did not let that miss discourage him, as he came down the court and hit a cold blooded three to give the Bearcats an 80-77 lead with minute to play. Grove City went back the line after a perimeter foul, but split the pair, giving the ball back to Saint Vincent with about 40 seconds left. Unfortunately, the Bearcats possession resulted in a turnover, giving the ball back to Grove City.
The Bearcats deployed a full court press which forced Grove City to waste a lot of time, but with four seconds to play another foul on the perimeter put Grove City's, Yarborough back at the line. This time however, he missed the first free throw and while trying to miss the second one on purpose missed the rim resulting in a violation and Saint Vincent getting the ball with four seconds left still up 80-78.
After almost turning it over on the ensuing possession, Saint Vincent got another chance after a Grove City player hit the ball out with 2.9 seconds to play. After another SVC turnover, Grove City had one last shot, mising a turn around jumper at the buzzer as the Bearcats won the overtime thriller.
This game was tight throughout, with the largest lead never growing beyond 10 points. Despite shooting just 5-19 from the three point line the Bearcats offense was able to keep pace thanks to contributions all along the roster and spurts of individual excellence from players like Crosby, Ostrowski, and  Iuzzolino. Free throws kept Grove City in the game late but in the end it just wasn't enough to outlast the scoring spurts from the Bearcats.
The Bearcats return to action this Wednesday, January 22Â on the road against Franciscan. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
