The Bearcat men's basketball team defeated Westminster College in a physical matchup at the Carey Center, 89-68.
After Westminster opened the scoring with a 3-pointer from the wing, Austin Fordresponded with 4 points of his own before the visiting Titans answered back with another long ball to recapture the lead 6-4.
In a tight game, SVC then went on a 9-point run thanks to a couple of jumpers from Coy Patterson Jr and a Mike Simmons deep shot from the corner, giving the Bearcats a 17-11 edge at the 12:15 mark of the first half.
Westminster fought back to get within one before SVC went on a timely 8-point run finished by consecutive 3-point shots made by Simmons and Jason Capco to increase their lead to 25-16. Westminster did not go away as the Bearcat defense could not stop the Titans' Brandon Domenick, who knocked down two of his five first half 3-pointers to cut into SVC's lead, 30-24.
However, it would not be enough as the Bearcats headed into the intermission up 38-28.
The second half presented a more physical battle between both sides with the intensity increasing as the game developed. Ford answered the call once again by scoring the first 6 points for SVC and led a 10-4 run to make it 48-34 with 16:52 left to play. After trading baskets for the next few minutes, Malique McLaren drained a deep ball from the corner to increase the Bearcat lead 57-42 marking the largest lead of the game for them at the 12:27 mark
The Titans would continue to scrap, behind the efforts of Domenick who hit his sixth and last 3-pointer of the night to make it 63-53 SVC with 8:16 remaining. Simmons answered with a pair of free-throws which was followed by an old fashioned 3-point play from Tom Kromka who made it 68-53 at 7:05.
For the most part, SVC was able to maintain its edge throughout the rest of the contest largely due to the impressive execution with their free-throws. The Bearcats knocked down 16-18 from the charity stripe in the second half, and 20-25 overall. Solid contributions from the bench and quality ball control also helped SVC end the game strong, coming up with an 89-68 win.
Five Bearcats posted double digits in scoring. Ford had 16, followed by Matt D'Amico's 14 and Simmons' 13. Meanwhile, Patterson netted 12 and Kromka posted 11. Austin Dedert and Ford both had team-highs in boards with 7 and Simmons led the team with 5 assists.
Top scorers for Westminster were Domenick with 22, Austin Armwood with 12, and Deontay Scott and Cameron Pozsgai scoring 10 each.
With the win, SVC improves to 11-4 overall and 7-1 in PAC play to stay tied with Thomas More in the conference standings. The Bearcats host the Saints on Wednesday, Jan. 18 at 7:30 p.m. The loss drops Westminster to 10-5 overall and 6-2 in the PAC.