LATROBE, Pa. (Feb. 25) - Thomas More used 12 made three-pointers to help defeat the Saint Vincent men's basketball team 79-68 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference Tournament Championship game at the Carey Center.
The loss ends the Bearcats' four-year run as PAC Tournament Champion and in the process gave the Saints their first conference crown since the 2008-09 season. The defeat also snapped the Bearcats' 14-game home PAC Tournament winning streak. Saint Vincent was attempting to become the first men's basketball team in PAC history to win five straight conference titles.
Junior guard Jason Capco recorded a career-high 20 points in the loss. Tom Kromka added 14, while Matt D'Amico chipped in 13 points. Coy Patterson Jr. totaled 10 points, 9 assists and 5 rebounds. The Bearcats' lone senior, Austin Ford, tallied 7 points and a game-high 10 rebounds in his final performance for the program.
Damion King led the Saints with 24 points, while also chipping in 7 rebounds and 5 assists.
Thomas More overcame a hostile crowd to take an early 7-0 lead, capped by a jumper from Austin Young at the 18:28 mark.
Saint Vincent showed its resiliency, as Capco came out on fire, knocking down back-to-back three-pointers to close to 7-6 with 17:27 left in the half.
The Bearcats took their first lead (13-12) of the game when D'Amico converted a layup attempt and then Capco drained this third three of the contest at the 13:08 mark.
King also had the hot hand early for Thomas More, knocking down a three to help the Saints regain the lead at 15-13. Capco would answer back with another jumper, tying the contest at 15-15 with 11:00 to play in the first half.
A Sawyer Pauly layup capped a 7-2 run for Thomas More that would give them their largest lead of the first half, at 24-17 with 8:06 remaining.
Thomas More would continue to hold at least a two basket lead until a 6-0 run by the Bearcats brought SVC back within a single point (31-30) at the 4:30 mark. Patterson started the run with a three-pointer off a pass from D'Amico. After a defensive stop, the Bearcats used an offensive rebound and putback by Kromka to close within two. Austin Dedert would split a pair of free throws to finish off the run.
TMC would counter back with another three-pointer and a split at the charity stripe to take a five-point edge (35-30) at the 2:46 mark. Patterson continued to be assertive on the offensive end, nailing a jumper in the paint. D'Amico followed with a jumper off a pass from Patterson to bring SVC back within one (35-34) late in the first half. The visiting Saints closed the first half with five points from King, taking a 40-34 lead into the halftime break.
King led all scorers at the break with 20 points, accounting for half of the Saints points as a team. Capco led the Bearcats with 15 points of his own after 20 minutes of action. Both teams shot better than 50 percent in the first half, with SVC making 53.8 percent from the field, while Thomas More shot 51.7 percent. Thomas More was 7-of-11 at half from behind the three-point line.
A three-point play to start the second half by D'Amico brought the Bearcats within three (40-37). However, Thomas More would use a 7-0 run to push its lead into double digits for the first time, at 47-37 with 16:30 to play. The Bearcats showed the will of a four time defending champion, rattling off a 9-0 run of its own to draw within a single point (47-46) with 14:19 left. The run included another trey by Capco, back-to-back layups by Ford and a fastbreak transition score by Patterson.
The Bearcats could never quite get over the hump in the second half, as Thomas More would slowly build upon its lead. The Saints pushed the lead back into double figures (66-56) with a jumper from King at the 7:20 mark.
Ford would split a pair of free throws and Kromka would add a layup to cut the deficit to 72-66 with 1:31 left but that's as close as the Bearcats would get.
The story of the game was Thomas More's three-point shooting, knocking down 12-of-21 attempts for an astonishing 57.1 percent. The Saints shot 51.8 percent for the game overall (29-of-56).
Saint Vincent shot 47.4 percent from the field but was just 1-of-6 from behind the three-point line in the second half. The Bearcats out-rebounded the Saints by a 35-30 margin. Both teams took care of the basketball, as Thomas More committed just five turnovers while SVC made just nine miscues.
The win improves Thomas More to 22-6 and gives them the PAC's automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Men's Basketball Tournament. Saint Vincent finishes the season at 21-7.