WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Dec. 10) – Tom Kromka and Matt D'Amico combined for 39 points as the Saint Vincent men's basketball team overcame a 15-point second half deficit to beat Waynesburg 71-70 in Presidents' Athletic Conference play.
Trailing 71-70 with less than 15 seconds to play, Kromka got a layup in the lane to fall and help the Bearcats pull out the last second road victory. The win was the seventh in the past eight games for Saint Vincent.
The two teams traded baskets early in the game before Waynesburg eventually gained a 10-5 advantage. Three straight points from Jason Capco and a jumper by Mike Simmons tied the contest at 10-10 with 13:50 to play in the first half.
Waynesburg used a six-point spurt to take a 16-10 edge over Saint Vincent. After being held scoreless for four plus minutes, Kromka stopped the Waynesburg run with an uncontested layup with 9:35 to play in the opening half.
The Yellow Jackets buried back-to-back three pointers to push the advantage to double digits at 22-12 with 8:08 remaining in the half. Waynesburg continued to hold a double-digit lead for the majority of the half, building an advantage of as many as 14 points (32-18) at the 4:53 mark.
After struggling for most of the half offensively, Saint Vincent closed the half on a 10-3 run to cut the deficit to 35-28 at halftime.
Despite the deficit, Saint Vincent was out-shooting Waynesburg from the field, with the Bearcats making 55 percent while Waynesburg connected on 41.9 percent of field goals. The big difference in the game through 20 minutes was three-point shooting, as Waynesburg hit 8-of-13 three pointers in the first half.
D'Amico tallied nine first half points to lead SVC, while Capco chipped in 7 points over the first 20 minutes.
Back-to-back three-pointers by Christian Koroly gave Waynesburg its largest lead of the game at 15 (50-35) with 14:18 to play. That is when Saint Vincent buckled down and made its comeback, answering with six straight points, which included four free throws, cutting the deficit to 50-41 with 12:06 left.
Waynesburg would counter by pushing its lead back into double digits on two different occasions, the last of which when Marcus Wallace split a pair of free throws, making it 55-45 with 10:25 left. The Bearcats cut the deficit to four points but Koroly nailed his sixth three-pointer of the game, giving the Jackets a 58-51 edge.
Eight straight points helped Saint Vincent surge into the lead, six of which came from Kromka, giving Saint Vincent a 59-58 lead with 5:03 left on the second half clock.
The teams then traded baskets down the stretch before the Bearcats built a four-point lead (69-65) after Simmons was fouled on a three and converted all three shots at the line with 2:30 left.
Waynesburg would then counter with five straight points, including two free throws to give the Jackets a 70-69 lead with 26 seconds left. That is when Kromka got the ball to roll into the basket for the go-ahead layup with five seconds left. Waynesburg's last gasp at a game winning three-pointer came up short.
D'Amico led the Bearcats with a game-high 22 points, while Kromka produced a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Austin Ford checked in with 10 rebounds in the victory. Koroly led the Jackets with 18 points, all of which came off of made three-pointers.
The Bearcats shot 51.1 percent from the field, while also converted 21-for-33 at the free throw line. Waynesburg hit on 41.4 percent of its shots, including hitting 14-of-24 from behind the three-point line (58.3 percent).
Saint Vincent improves to 7-3 overall and 3-0 in the PAC. Waynesburg drops to 3-5 overall and is now 2-2 in league play.
SVC does not return to action until they host Geneva College on Tuesday, January 3. Start time is slated for 7:30 p.m.