GROVE CITY, Pa. (Feb. 3) – Grove City held Saint Vincent to a season-low point total as the Wolverines dropped the Bearcats 69-52 in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game at the College Arena in Mercer County.
The loss stops a four-game winning streak for Saint Vincent. The Bearcats fall to 11-3 in the PAC and 14-7 overall. Grove City evens its conference mark to 7-7 and moves to 14-7 overall.
Austin Dedert opened the scoring with a lay in to give SVC an early 2-0 lead a minute into the game. Grove City would counter with back-to-back baskets to take a 4-2 lead.
From that point the teams would exchange baskets, with SVC regaining the lead on a layup by Tom Kromka that made it 14-13 at the 9:13 mark.
That is when Grove City locked up defensively, using an 8-0 run to take its largest lead of the first half, at 21-14 with 5:48 remaining in the first half.
Jason Capco helped SVC end the cold shooting spell, draining a three-pointer to make it 21-17 with 2:52 to play in the half. Kyle Evans added a driving layup to close the deficit to 21-19. However, the host Wolverines would score the final five points of the first half to take a 26-19 lead into halftime.
Saint Vincent struggled shooting the ball in the first half, making just 8-of-23 attempts from the field, including just one of seven from three-point range. The Bearcats also committed nine turnovers to just three by the Wolverines in the opening 20 minutes.
Grove City opened the second half with three consecutive points to take a double-digit (29-19) lead. A three-pointer by Cory Huff made it 34-22 with 16:06 to play. A little later, a driving layup by Matt D'Amico, cut the Bearcats' deficit to 38-29 at the 13:57 mark.
The Wolverines responded with five of the next six points to take a 43-30 advantage, its biggest advantage, with 12:48 to play. A three-pointer by Mike Simmons would help SVC cut the deficit back into single digits (47-38) at the 10:33 mark.
However, Grove City had the answer, using a 7-1 surge to take a 54-39 advantage with 8:19 to play. That effectively ended any hope for a Bearcat comeback. The loss was the first for Saint Vincent at Grove City since Feb. 17, 2010.
Cory Huff poured in 22 points for Grove City to lead all scorers. Kromka led SVC with nine points and seven rebounds in the loss.
Grove City converted 48.9 percent from the field, while Saint Vincent made just 39.1 percent of its attempts. The Bearcats put together a poor night at the free throw line, making just 11 of 28 (39.3 percent) at the charity stripe.
Saint Vincent returns to action when they host Bethany College at the Carey Center on Wednesday, Feb. 7. The Bearcats will look for their first regular season sweep of the Bison since the 2012-13 season. Tip-off between the Bearcats and Bison is set for 7:30 p.m.