CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. (Jan. 17) – A strong offensive effort helped the Saint Vincent men's basketball team earn a dominant 81-67 victory over Thomas More to remain unbeaten in Presidents' Athletic Conference. The victory was the sixth straight for the Bearcats.

With the victory, Saint Vincent improved to 12-4 overall and 7-0 in conference play. Thomas More dropped to 10-6 overall and 5-2 in PAC play.

The Bearcats used a balanced effort, having six players score in double figures. Pat Jones led the way with 19 points. Junior forward Bobby Swartwout used a strong offensive effort to score 12 points. JC Howard, Jaylon Bell, Sean Kett and Ben Klimchock all scored 10 points apiece.

After a layup by Kett opened the scoring, Drew Mumford sunk a three-point field goal to give Thomas More an early 3-2 advantage. However, that was the only lead of the first half for the host Saints, as sophomore forward Austin Ford grabbed an offensive rebound and put it back in for a 4-3 Bearcats lead.

Jones connected on a three-point basket to stretch the SVC lead to 15-7 at the 14:35 mark of the first half. The Bearcats pushed their lead to double digits for the first time when Swartwout made a three pointer of his own, making the score 22-11 with 9:41 to play in the first half.

Thomas More answered with a 7-2 scoring run to cut the Bearcats lead to just six points (24-18) at the 6:13 mark. However, Saint Vincent closed the first half strong, including scoring 8 of the final 10 points over the 2:37 of play. The run was strengthened by a strong first half by Swartwout, who led the team with 10 first half points.  The Bearcats built their first half lead to as many as 15 points before holding a 40-27 lead at the break.

SVC showed no signs of letting up after their strong first half, as they started the second half on a 12-0 run to push the lead to 52-27 over the first four minutes of the second half. The run was capped by two free throws from Klimchock. Kett and Jones combined to score the first 10 points of the run to open the second half.

Two free throws by Kett pushed the Bearcats lead back to 25 (56-31) with 14:59 to play. Thomas More slowly tried to work their way back in the game, cutting the deficit to just 10 points (75-65) with 2:40 to play. Bell answered right back with a layup and Thomas More couldn't get any closer.

Kett led all players with nine rebounds. Bell chipped in a game-best four assists, while Klimchock forced three steals defensively.

Saint Vincent shot 55.8 percent from the field, including making 7-of-15 from behind the arc. SVC rounded out a strong shooting day, making 16-19 from the free throw line (84.2 percent).

The Bearcats travel to Thiel College on Wednesday, Jan.  21. Tip-off in Greenville, Pa. is set for 7:30 p.m.