The Saint Vincent Bearcats earned their fourth straight Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament Championship by defeating Thomas More College 65-62 to advance to the Division III NCAA Tournament.

The Bearcats and Saints fought throughout a close first half in front of a rambunctious Carey Center crowd. Thomas More found the basket first before senior guard Jaylon Bell drove through multiple defenders to answer. Austin Ford made his post presence known throughout the first four minutes. The junior forward tipped in a Bell miss, scored in the post following an Austin Dedert block, and capitalized on an offensive rebound to give the Bearcats a 8-2 lead with 16:46 left in the half.
 
The Saints hit their first three of the evening and Ford dished a pass down low to Dedert who capitalized for two giving SVC a 10-5 lead. Over the next minute, the Bearcats scored 7 straight, highlighted by a JC Howardpull up jumper and a Pat Jones trey to extend their lead to 9. Thomas More scored on two straight possessions to respond but Howard found Bobby Swartwout on the baseline for an easy basket to give SVC a 19-12 advantage. However, following a Jones layup at the 11:18 mark, Saint Vincent was held scoreless for over six minutes as the Saints took a 22-21 lead.
 
Swartwout regained the lead for SVC with a three at the top of the key and Jones got the crowd on their feet with an explosive dunk after a fastbreak to give the Bearcats a slim 26-22 lead with 3:39 left in the period. Bell, who was held to minimal offense in the half, scored on a finger roll and Jones capitalized off a missed Thomas More three to send Saint Vincent into the locker room with a 31-26 advantage in the PAC championship game.
 
 The Bearcats shot 47% from the field in the first, led by Jones who scored 9. Ford scored 7 and grabbed a game-high 9 first half rebounds. Ryne Callahan and Austin Young led the Saints with 5 points each.
 
Thomas More scored first to start the final half but Jones responded quickly with a jumper off the dribble. Jones continued to find the basket, scoring on the baseline and a floater in the lane to give the Bearcats a 37-32 lead with 15:20 to go. The Saints drained a trey and two free throws to close the gap to two but Jones scored, once again, as he drove through the lane for an easy basket. Thomas More converted an and-one opportunity to make it a one-possession contest and netted another to take the lead with 10:52 left in the game.
 
After the Saints took the lead Bell took initiative, driving through the defense for a layup to tie the game at 44 all. Bell followed up his drive with an and-one play to regain the Bearcat advantage. Thomas More scored on the following possession but a Howard trey gave SVC a four-point lead. The Saints found themselves in foul trouble and Swartwout was able to hit two from the charity stripe to make the score 52-48 with 7:58 left. Howard drained his second three from the baseline and Bell nailed a trey of his own to give SVC an 8-point lead. Thomas More responded with a basket three but Howard pulled up for his third trey of the night. Howard found Swartwout in the post on the next possession and the field goal gave the Bearcats a 10-point lead.
 
The Saints continued to fight back, draining another three and scoring four straight to shrink the advantage to four. Bell hit a free throw to make the score 65-60 with 2:09 left but Thomas More executed a textbook give-and-go to make it a one possession contest. Saint Vincent got the ball back for one final chance to extend their lead but they weren't able to capitalize, giving the Saints one final opportunity. The Bearcats extended out on their men and maintained tenacious defense forcing Thomas More to settle for an off balance three attempt. The shot didn't come close to the rim and Saint Vincent won their fourth straight conference championship by a score of 65-62.
 
The Bearcats featured four players in double figures, led by 17 from Jones. Bell netted 14, Howard added 12, and Swartwout rounded out the offense with 11 points. Callahan led the Saints with a game-high 18.  Ford had a game-high 10 rebounds, while Swartwout grabbed 7 boards.

Saint Vincent will now advance to the NCAA Tournament for the fourth straight season, and will find out their opponent and the location on Monday (Feb. 29).