WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College men's basketball team reeled of 14-consecutive points late in the first half and held off Thiel in the second half to earn a 74-65 win in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play at the Salvitti Family Gymnasium on Wednesday evening.
 
W&J built a 41-27 halftime lead thanks to the 14-0 spurt and shooting seven-of-12 from beyond the arc in the game's opening 20 minutes.
 
The Presidents and Tomcats went back-and-forth in the early going with neither team owning a lead greater than four points through the game's first 10 minutes. However the Presidents extended a 19-17 advantage with 9:27 left in the first half to a commanding 33-17 lead with just over four minutes remaining.
 
The run featured a three from Kyran Mitchell (Reading, Pa./Berks Catholic), two threes by Cameron Seemann (Loveland, Ohio/Archbishop Moeller), a three-point play by Primo Zini (Morgantown, W.Va./Trinity Christian) and a pair of free throws made by Okikiola Agbale (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler). During the stretch the Presidents held Thiel without a field goal in six shots and forced five turnovers.
 

The Tomcats clawed back within 10 (37-27) with under a minute left in the first half, but the Presidents scored the final four points of the half on two Adam Alexander free throws and a layup by Mitchell of a nifty feed from Jonathan Howland (Goshen, Ky./North Oldham).
 
In the first five minutes of the second half Thiel trimmed the margin to 44-33, but Seeman extended it with a successful three-point play. A minute later, Jonathan DeVito (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pittsburgh Central Catholic) connected on a three to put the Presidents ahead 50-35.
 
The Tomcats reel off an 15-4 run to cut the lead to 58-52 with six minutes left in regulation, but DeVito thwarted a Thiel fastbreak and passed to Mitchell for an easy layup to push the Presidents back ahead by double-figures.
 
The Tomcats came back within seven again (61-64) and DeVito answered again with a three with 4:14 left to keep the comeback at bay. The Presidents combined to make 10 free throws over the final two minutes to salt the game away.
 
The Presidents attempted a season-high 38 free throws, connecting on 27 (71.1 percent). Thiel went 20-of-28 (71.4 percent) from the charity stripe.
 
W&J finished plus-10 in the turnover margin (25-15) and connected on nine-of-24 threes (37.5 percent). Four different Presidents connected on at least two threes.
 
Zini poured in a season-high 19 points as he connected on 13-of-19 free throw attempts on the night.  Seemann added 14 points and five rebounds.
 
DeVito had 11 points, four rebounds, four steals and three assists and Mitchell had 10 points and five rebounds.

W&J continues its PAC slate with a trip to Waynesburg on Saturday, Jan. 11. The Presidents tip off against the Yellow Jackets at 3:30 p.m.