CLEVELAND, Ohio (Dec. 30) – The Saint Vincent men's basketball team used a strong second half to pull away for a 85-63 victory over Geneva College in the consolation game of the Bill Sudeck Holiday Tournament, hosted by Case Western Reserve University.

Saint Vincent was led by a well-balanced offensive attack, seeing seven players score at least eight points. Leading the way was junior guard JC Howard, who scored a team-high 13 points. Senior forward Sean Kett poured in 11 points, while freshman Austin Dedert recorded 12 points and pulled down a team-best 8 rebounds.

Both teams shot the ball well in a back and forth first half. Howard scored the game's first basket, making a layup just a little over a minute into the game.

Geneva made three pointers on three straight possessions, taking an 11-9 lead with 15:54 to play in the first half. Junior Pat Jones answered back with a three point play of his own, giving SVC a 12-11 advantage at the 15:04 mark of the opening half.

SVC stretched its lead to 18-13 with 12:12 to go in the half after four straight points from sophomore forward Austin Ford. The Golden Tornadoes scored seven straight points to regain the lead at 20-18 with 11 minutes remaining in the half.

The Bearcats scored eight of the next 10 points to make the score 26-22 SVC with 8:01 to play in the half. During that stretch, Jones and junior guard Jaylon Bell each drained three pointers for Saint Vincent.
Ethan Adamcyzk brought Geneva within two points with a layup at the 4:29 mark. However, Bell answered with a layup and junior guard Dan Sinwell connected on a three-pointer with 2:45 to play in the half to push the Bearcats lead to 35-28. SVC closed the half with six made free throws over the last 45 seconds of the half to help SVC to a 41-35 halftime lead.

Saint Vincent used strong pressure defense to help strengthen its lead early in the second half. The Bearcats took their first double-digit lead (47-37) of the game when Howard made a layup with 17:20 to play.

Four consecutive points from Sinwell made it 65-47 Bearcats. Shortly thereafter, Bell turned a steal on the defensive end into a layup to push the SVC lead to 20 (67-47) with just over 11 minutes to play.
The Bearcats maintained a strong lead for the remainder of the contest, as they held a comfortable lead the rest of the way.

Both teams shot the ball well from the field. Saint Vincent converted 50.9 percent of its attempts from the field (29-of-57), while also making 6-of-11 three pointers and 21-of-24 free throws (87.5 percent). Geneva shot 54.3 percent from the field but committed 17 turnovers. Adamcyzk led all scorers with 18 points for the Golden Tornadoes.  

Jones earned All-Tournament honors after following up last night's double-double performance against Trine, with eight points against Geneva. Bell added a game-high six steals for Saint Vincent.

The game served as a nonconference contest between the two schools who had already met at the Carey Center earlier this month. The two teams will play at Geneva in late January.
With the victory Saint Vincent improved to 7-4 overall, while Geneva dropped to 3-8 overall on the season.

The Bearcats will get back into action on the road at Westminster on Saturday, Jan. 3. Start time is set for 3:30 p.m. in New Wilmington, Pa.