The Bearcats opened an early 22-2 lead then cruised to an 80-47 victory over visiting Thiel on Senior Day in the Carey Center.

It was a strong start on both sides of the ball for SVC on their senior night. Coy Patterson Jr. got the ball rolling on offense as the Bearcats scored first off of his contested fast-break layup. Following a stop on defense, Patterson pulled up at the top of the key and drained his second basket to make it a 6-0 early in the game.

After allowing an opposing bucket from Thiel, the Bearcat offense went on an offensive explosion. Tom Kromka poured in 6 straight points off the bench to increase their lead to double digits. A couple of low-post baskets from Austin Dedert and a 3-pointer from Josh Duda made it 20-2 with 12:26 left in the half.

For nearly 11 minutes, Thiel was held to just one shot made from the field until a finish at the rim ended a 16-point run from the Bearcats to make it 22-4 at the 9:58 mark. The emphatic finish energized the Tomcats as they capped an 8-point run to bring them within 12 points with 7:41 on the clock.   Austin Ford netted back-to-back baskets, including a nice put-back, which was followed by a Mike Simmons 3-pointer from the wing to conclude an 8-2 run which gave SVC a 30-12 edge at the 5:00 mark.

Both teams then traded baskets before a Thiel 3-pointer cut their deficit to 14 points; yet that basket was the last points the Tomcat offense scored for the remainder of the half as SVC held them scoreless the last three minutes. In doing so, the Bearcats offense gained a late surge from Patterson and Matt D'Amico who contributed a combined eight points to SVC's 10-point run making it 42-18 at the halfway point.

The runs continued for the Bearcats as they opened up the scoring in the second half. After a Ford finish in the paint, Patterson followed with a jumper of his own. D'Amico took charge of the offense as he tallied 7 points, including a successful 3-point play, over the next 3 minutes as the Bearcat lead grew 55-22 with 15:21 left in the game.

Thiel, playing without their two leading scorers, had no answer for the Bearcats' on the defensive side either. SVC held a minimum lead of 24 points throughout the last 10 minutes of the second half. A Gage McCracken 3-pointer and a few more contributions from the Bearcat bench helped to solidify an 80-47 conference victory.

SVC had four players reach double figures in scoring. Patterson tied his career-high with 18 points, followed by D'Amico who poured in 12 while Ford and Kromka netted 10 each. Ford and Colin Neville grabbed 9 rebounds each, setting a new career-high for Neville, while Kromka ended with 7. Kromka also added 3 blocks to his stat line and Dedert posted two for the game.

Thiel's leading scorers were Nyric Gosley with 13, Leandre Jackson with 8, and Clandell Cetoute who finished with 6.

The win improves SVC to 18-5 overall and 14-2 in the PAC as they head on the road to face Thomas More in a conference matchup of the top two teams on Wednesday, Feb. 15 at 7:30 pm. 

The loss drops Thiel to 13-8 overall and 9-7 in the PAC.

GAME NOTES...Prior to the game, Tom Gray and Al Keefe were honored for their 34 years of service to Saint Vincent basketball.  Tom and Al have spent more than three decades working together at the scoring table, running the game clock, shot clock and scoreboard.  They are retiring from their duties at the end of the season.