(LATROBE, Pa.) – The Thomas More College men's basketball team fell, 81-72, to Saint Vincent College today (Saturday, February 21, 2015) in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game at the Robert S. Carey Center in Latrobe, Pennsylvania.
With the loss, the Saints fall to 16-9 overall and 11-5 in the PAC. With the win, the Bearcats improve to 19-6 overall and 14-2 in the PAC.
Saint Vincent jumped out to an early 11-0 lead when JC Howard made two free-throws with 17:16 to play in the first half. Thomas More answered with a 5-0 run to cut the lead to 11-5 with 14:56 to play in the opening half when sophomore guard Drew Mays (Union, Ky./Ryle) made a three-pointer. Ben Klimchock made a three-pointer with 11:55 to play in the first half to cap a Saint Vincent 8-2 run as the Bearcats increased the lead to 19-7. The Saints responded with a 19-11 run to cut the lead to 30-26 when freshman forward Cameron Fitts (Spencer County, Ky./Spencer County) made a jumper with 1:30 to play in the opening half. The Bearcats closed out the half on a 6-0 run to take a 36-26 lead at halftime when Pat Jones made a dunk with 16-seconds to play in a half.
The Bearcats opened the second half on a 25-17 run to extend the lead to 61-43 on a Howard jumper with 10:35 to play in the game. Thomas More answered with a 13-2 run to cut the lead to 63-56 with 6:31 to play in the game when freshman guard Daniel Williams (Louisville, Ky./Jeffersontown) made a three-pointer. Saint Vincent used a 13-2 run to increase the lead to 73-58 when Jaylon Bell made a jumper with 3:43 to play in the game. Thomas More closed out the game on a 14-8 run, but it wasn't enough as Saint Vincent won the game, 81-72.
Senior forward Drew Mumford (Louisville, Ky./Christian Academy) led the team in scoring and rebounding with game-high-tying 16 points and seven rebounds. Joining him in double-figure scoring was sophomore guard/forward Nate McGovney (Alexandria, Ky./Campbell County) with 14 points and a game-high five assists, Williams with 12 points and Mays with 10 points.
The Saints will be the No. 4-seed in next week's PAC Championship Tournament. Thomas More will host No. 5-seed Thiel College in a quarterfinal game on Tuesday (February 24) at 7 p.m. inside the Connor Convocation Center in Crestview Hills, Kentucky.