The Saint Vincent men's basketball team scored early and often, leading from start to finish over visiting Penn State-Beaver. The final score was 86-66.
Freshman David Stephen had a breakout game, scoring 18 points off the bench to lead the Bearcats.
Tom Kromka got the hosts on the scoreboard with a putback at the 17:53 mark, then a score by Austin Dedert doubled the lead to 4-0. David Stephen then hit a three from the corner, stole the ensuing inbound pass and scored on a layup, giving the Bearcats a 9-0 lead.
After the Lions got their offense on track, Stephen added another score to make it 15-5, then a Jason Capcothree made it 18-5. Once again, Stephen came up with a steal off the inbound pass and scored to increase the lead to 20-5, followed by a Kromka dunk that ran the lead to 17.
Up 22-7, Josh Duda hit a three that gave the Bearcats a 25-7 lead, but the Lions later cut the gap to 12 points, 35-23.
Late in the first, Kyle Evans added another three for the home team, giving SVC a 41-24 lead, and after the visitors scored four points, it was once again Stephen that hit a shot to get SVC back on the board, making the score 43-28. Penn State scored the final points of the half, as SVC led 43-30 at the break.
Collin Neville got SVC off to a quick start in the second half, scoring on a putback in the opening minute. Neville later added a turnaround layup off a feed from Evans, giving SVC a 51-35 lead at the 17:10 mark.
Up 57-44, the Bearcats got back-to-back threes from Stephen and Capco, running the lead to 19 with 11:55 remaining.
With 7:19 on the clock, Kory Phillips hit a layup to keep the lead at 19, (73-54), but the Lions followed with a three. Stephen, who had sat for several minutes after picking up his fourth foul, quickly got back on the board with a putback after a missed free throw, making the score 75-57.
A three by Walter Bonds with less than a minute remaining ended the scoring for the Bearcats, as they cruised to an 86-66 victory.
Stephen led the way on 8-of-13 shooting from the field, but he was just one of six Bearcats to score in double figures. Kromka added 12, while Dedert and Duda scored 11 each. Neville and Capco each tallied 10 points. Neville, Kromka and Dedert each grabbed 8 rebounds, helping SVC to a 41-28 advantage on the boards for the game.
John Foster of Beaver was the game's top scorer and rebounder, with 23 and 9, respectively.
Saint Vincent is now 3-1 overall, and will return to action on Wednesday night (November 29) at 8PM as the team takes on Washington & Jefferson in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game on the road.