Tom Kromka and Austin Ford combined for 28 points and 16 rebounds to lead Saint Vincent to a 62-50 victory over Grove City College at the Carey Center.

The victory extended the Bearcats current winning streak to nine games, With the win Saint Vincent moves to 17-4 overall and 13-1 in PAC play. Meanwhile, Grove City dropped to 9-12 overall and 5-9 in conference action. 

Austin Dedert opened the scoring with an offensive rebound and putback in the opening minute. Grove City would quickly counter with two free throws and a layup, taking an early 4-2 advantage with 17:59 to play in the first half. That is when the Bearcats' defense locked in and took over the game.

Dedert made a great hustle play to make an emphatic block to prevent a Grove City fastbreak opportunity. After Dedert then corralled a defensive rebound, Jason Capco made a tight outlet pass to Ford, who used a one handed slam to give SVC a 6-4 advantage at the 16:30 mark.

The Bearcats low-post play surged as Kromka netted five of his team-high 10 first half points to help build an 11-5 advantage. The next two trips down the court for SVC ended in three-pointers from Malique McLaren and Mike Simmons, making it 17-6 with 11:09 left to play in the half.

For most of the duration in the first half, Grove City struggled mightily on the offensive side of the ball as the only scoring production came at the foul line. While poor shooting plagued the Wolverines, the Bearcats continued to pour it in on offensively. Saint Vincent tacked on an 8-3 run, highlighted by an old school three-point play from Ford to make it 25-9 Bearcats.

On the ensuing trip down the court, Grove City managed to sink their second shot of the game from the floor at 6:26. The basket ended an 11 plus minute drought without a made field goal. The Wolverines started 1-of-18 from the field in the contest.

After trading a couple of points, McLaren and Simmons again netted back-to-back three-pointers to extend the Bearcat lead 33-15. However, the Wolverines would finally find some rhythm offensively, ending the half on a six-point run but still trailed 33-21 after 20 minutes. Despite the late first half run, Grove City shot just 16.1 percent (5-of-31) in the first half from the field. The Wolverines did knock down 10-of-14 free throws to stay within striking distance.

Dedert tallied the first four points of the second half, pushing the SVC edge to 37-21. For the third time in the game, the Bearcats managed to hit consecutive shots from behind the arc in the midst of a 10-point run to make it 47-28, marking their largest lead of the game with 13:18 left on the clock.

SVC had little trouble maintaining their double-digit lead for the remainder of the game. Barring a few miniscule runs from the opposition, the Bearcats were able to take advantage of a poor shooting night by Grove City as they picked up their ninth straight win.

The leading scorer for the Bearcats was Kromka, who finished with 16 points while chipping in six rebounds. Ford would add his fourth career double-double, totaling 12 points and 10 rebounds. Capco dished out a career-best 8 assists in the victory.

McLaren added a career-high 9 points off the bench. Freshman Collin Neville tacked on six rebounds off the bench in just 11 minutes of action. Dedert, Kromka and Ford each recorded two blocks in the contest.

The Bearcats defense limited Grove City to just 17-of-62 from the field, a clip of just 27.4 percent shooting. The Wolverines were just 3-of-17 behind the arc, as they converted just 17.6 percent.

Grove City had two players reach double digits in points with Cory Huff recording a team-high 14, while Andrew Beckman scored 11. Huff was just shy of recording a double-double with 9 rebounds.

Saint Vincent returns to action with a road game at Bethany College on Wednesday, Feb. 8. Tip-off is set for 8 p.m. The Bison handed the Bearcats their lone PAC loss of the season back on Jan. 5.