LATROBE, Pa. (Feb 22)- The Saint Vincent men's basketball team used great effort and some scoring outbursts to power past Grove City on Saturday afternoon to close out their regular season.
The Bearcats (20-5, 16-4 PAC) did not really have it rolling on offense today but were able to use high effort on the boards and defense close against Grove City (15-10, 12-8 PAC) until their stars were ready to take over for stretches and get Saint Vincent a lead they held on to.
The first star to talk about is Dev Ostrowski who scored a team high 25 points. He was not super efficient, shooting 8-20, but he got to the free throw line well and seemed to always have the steadying hand when the Bearcats needed him including clutch free throws to ice the game late. Jaden Gales was also huge, scoring 16 points on 7-9 shooting with seven rebounds and two blocks. He was crucial in the second half especially during the run that captured the lead for the Bearcats.
The Bearcats started out solid in this one jumping out to 10-5 lead after the first four and a half minutes. It was not perfect, as they shot 3-7 from the field and had turnovers, but they played aggressively on offense and held strong on defense.
Grove City then blitzed the Bearcats with a 12-2 run over the next three minutes. They turned up the tempo on offense and used strong drives to score at the rim or spray out to shooters. The Bearcats went a bit cold on offense and it mixed for the perfect storm to create this run and give Grove City a 17-12 lead with just under 13 minutes to go in the half.
Over the next four minutes both teams traded buckets thanks to some high effort by the Bearcats. Their offense was still struggling but they pounded the offensive glass affording themselves many extra chance. Despite both teams making three field goals in this stretch the Bearcats out shot Grove City by five. Grove City held on to their lead with a 23-17 score with about nine minutes left in the half.
Saint Vincent really tightened the screws on defesne holding Grove City to just 1-6 shooting over the next four minutes. Their offense was still a bit slow but they did enough to tie the game at 25-25 up with a Jaden Gales jumper.
Both offenses found some life to close out the half, trading buckets inside off of great passing and strong drives. Both teams only missed three shots combined over the final four minutes as they went back and forth possession by possession. The game was tied 35-35 heading into halftime.
Despite shooting just 38% compared to Grove City's 52% the Bearcats found themsleves tied at halftime purely thanks to effort. They grabbed nine offensive rebounds and forced seven tunrovers to give themselves the extra opportunities necessary to keep this game tied despite the difference in efficiency.
Both teams traded buckets over the first seven minutes of the quarter. The Saint Vincent offense still looked pretty disjointed, but thanks to forcing four Grove City turnovers they were able to keep pace and take a slight lead 49-48.
After trading buckets for a bit more the Bearcats exploded for a 10-0 run in under two minutes. They were able to lock down on defense and get out and run in transition on anything, spearheaded by Gales. He was taking rebounds coast to coast and scoring at the rim after aggressive drives, scoring five of the 10 points in the run. This run put Saint Vincent up 53-62 with about nine minutes to play.
Over the next five minutes Grove City was slowly able to crawl their way back. Closing in little by little until Drew Collins jumper cut the lead Saint Vincent lead to just three points with the score of 68-65 with about four minutes to play. Jaden Gales was able to respond with another layup to push the game back to multiple possessions.
After going back and forth again Grove City was able to hit a layup to cut the lead to 71-69 with about two minutes to play, making the game as close it had been before the Saint Vincent run earlier in the half.
Dev Ostrowski got an isolation at the top of the key and after a series of dribble moves got pumped off his spot on a drive and headed to the free throw line where he knocked down the pair, extending the lead to 73-69.
After a Grove City free throw the game was back to one possession. Both teams traded misses and a scramble after a rebound led to a jump ball with the possession arrow heading to Saint Vincent. However, they threw the ball away on the inbound giving the ball back to Grove City down three with 46 seconds left.
The Bearcats used strong ball pressure to keep the ball on the perimeter and eventually cause a loose ball, which resulted in another jump ball, this time headed to Grove City. It would be there ball again, down 73-70 with 28 seconds left.
Grove City found a wide open shooter after a beautiful cross court inbounds pass and great screening action, but he came up way short. The ball just grazed the front of the rim and in the scramble for the ball it was hit out of bounds by a Grove City player, giving the ball back to Saint Vincent.
The ball was inbounded clean no Mike Iuzzolino hit both free throws with 21 seconds left to make it a 75-70 game. Another strong stop and rebound sent Jaden Gales to the line with a chance to ice it but he missed both, leaving the door open. Grove City took advantage of that opportunity, nailing a 3 to cut the lead to 75-72 with just five seconds left.
The Bearcats inbounded the ball cleanly and a quick intentional foul sent Dev Ostrowski to the line where calmly knocked down both free throws to ice this one, putting the Bearcats up 77-72 with just 4 seconds left. Grove City tried to score quick on a full court pass but it bounced off target and a Saint Vincent rebound ended this one.
The Bearcats leaned on their defense in this one but the story of the game is the scoring outbursts in the second half that helped them get and keep the lead. Dev Ostrowski and Jaden Gales led the way as Saint Vincent captured a clutch win in their final regular season game.
Saint Vincent now earns a first round bye in next week's PAC playoffs. They will host a PAC semifinal game against an opponent to be determined next Thursday, February 27 at 7 p.m. in the Robert S. Carey Center.
