WASHINGTON, Pa. (Feb. 11) – Behind 18 made three-point baskets, the Saint Vincent College men's basketball team rolled to a 100-51 victory over Washington and Jefferson at the Henry Memorial Center in Washington, Pa.
The victory improved the Bearcats to 16-6 overall and 11-2 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. Meanwhile, W&J dropped to 1-21 overall and 0-13 in conference play.
The host Presidents started off the game with a 4-2 lead behind two baskets from junior Tyler Haas. However, SVC answered quickly with nine straight points to take an 11-4 lead at the 15:07 mark. Senior forward Sean Kett was a big part of the scoring run, totaling eight of the nine points.
A free throw by W&J at the 13:46 mark ended a scoreless drought of nearly four minutes. The Presidents added a layup at the 12:53 mark, cutting the Bearcats lead to 14-7.
SVC then proceeded to rattle off an 8-0 run, capped off by a three-point basket from junior guard Geoff FuQuay, making the Bearcats lead 22-7 with 10:36 to play in the half.
Saint Vincent extended its lead further with another lengthy run, this time scoring eight of the next nine points, pushing the advantage to 30-8 at the 8:36 mark. Juniors Dan Sinwell and Jaylon Bell each drained a three-pointer during the run.
Austin Ford connected on a layup to push the Bearcats lead to 41-16 with 3:46 to play. The 25 point advantage was the Bearcats largest of the first half. W&J closed the half on a 7-3 run to make the halftime score 47-26 in favor of the Bearcats.
Pat Jones and JC Howard opened up the second half scoring with back-to-back three pointers for SVC, pushing the lead to 53-26 with 18:17 to play.
SVC continued the strong second half play, using a 23-2 run to extend its lead to 70-28 with 12:46 to play. The Bearcats lead extended to 56 (93-39) when Ben Klimchock drained a three-pointer with 4:22 to play.
Freshman Joe Carrick capped the Bearcats scoring, sinking a three-pointer to push them over the century mark at 100 points.
Four Bearcats finished in night in double figures in scoring, leading a well-balanced attack. Howard finished with a game-high 16 points, while Kett continued his strong play, chipping in 15 points. Sinwell shattered his career-high, scoring 15 points all on three pointers. Ford rounded out the Bearcats in double figures by scoring 10 points.
Strong shooting was the story of the night for Saint Vincent. The Bearcats converted 38-of-60 shots (63.3 percent) from the field in the contest, while also making 18 of 33 attempts from behind the three-point line. The made three-pointers (18) for SVC outnumbered the total amount of field goals (16) alone W&J made for the entire contest.
The Bearcats return to action with a road contest against Grove City College on Saturday, Feb. 14. Start time is slated for 3 p.m.