Four Bearcats scored in double-figures as the SVC men cruised to an 89-67 victory on the road over Washington & Jefferson.

Pat Jones led the way with 18 points, while Bobby Swartwout added 14.  JC Howard and Austin Ford added 12 each, while Ford was tops in rebounds with 9.

The Presidents kept the Bearcats in check in the early portion of the game, with the hosts taking a 9-7 lead just under five minutes into play.  Ford then tied the game with a layup, followed by a Swartwout free throw and a jumper from Jones that made the score 12-9 in favor of the Bearcats.
 
W&J kept the game close, tying it at 17-17 after a steal and fast break score by Brian Graytok just past the midway point of the half.

After that, however, SVC started to pull away, going on a 12-2 run that started with buckets from Austin Dedert and Alex Vanzant, followed by a Mike Simmons three-pointer.  Howard, Jones and Ford also scored during the stretch, making it 31-19 in favor of the visiting Bearcats.
 
Later in the half, a three by Ben Klimchock ran the lead to 14 with 1:05 to go (39-25).  After W&J scored three points to cut the lead back to eleven, Kyle Rivera hit a three in the closing seconds of the half to make it 42-28 at the break.
 
In all, nine Bearcats hit the scoresheet in the first 20 minutes, led by Jones (11) and Ford (10).  Howard had five assists in the first half. 
 
Howard got the Bearcats off to a quick start in the second half with five quick points.  At the 14:43 mark he added a pair of free throws that stretched the lead to 20, its highest point, 54-34.
 
W&J then went on a 7-0 run over the next three minutes, but Howard stopped the streak with a three to make it 57-41 with 11:25 on the clock.
 
A dunk by Ford made it 61-45 with just under 10 minutes left, then SVC's defense got into the act.  After Swartwout scored on a conventional three-point play to make the score 64-48, Jones stole the inbound pass for an uncontested layup, then Jones again came up with a steal on the next attempt by W&J to advance the ball, leading to a Matt D'Amico score that once again made it a 20-point game (68-48).
 
With 3:45 remaining, another conventional three-point play by Swartwout made it a 78-57 Bearcat lead,   The game ended on a three by Marquis Holland, as SVC kept its perfect conference record intact.

The Bearcats, 11-3 overall and 7-0 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference, will host second place Thomas More College at 4:30PM on Saturday (January 16) in the Carey Center.