LATROBE, Pa. (Dec. 9) – Senior Osyon Jones' offensive putback with 2.3 seconds left lifted the Saint Vincent men's basketball team to a wild 72-70 victory over visiting Geneva College, moving the Bearcats to 9-0 on the season and into sole possession of first place in the Presidents' Athletic Conference.
In a game that featured 11 ties and 10 lead changes, Jones' game-winner capped off an 8-2 game-ending run for Saint Vincent (9-0, 6-0 PAC), which trailed by six points with seven minutes left, and 68-64 with 3:33 to go.
Mike Iuzzolino buried a pair of free throws with 3:30 left to trim the gap to 68-66, before Jaden Bailey picked off the ensuing inbounds pass and fed Dev Ostrowski for the game-tying layup with 3:21 to go. The two teams would trade scoreless possessions over the next two minutes, before SVC's Jaden Gales hit a pair of free throws to give the Bearcats the lead, 70-68, with 1:17 remaining.
After Geneva's (8-2, 6-1 PAC) Payton Triplett tied the game with a driving layup with 16 seconds to go, Ostrowski missed a short jumper in the paint, but Jones crashed the boards and followed with the eventual game-winning putback with 2.3 ticks remaining. A Geneva timeout advanced the ball to midcourt, but the Golden Tornadoes' last-second three-pointer went off the mark, setting off a frenzied celebration for a Robert S. Carey Center crowd of more than 1,100.
Gales led all players with 25 points, while adding a team-best 10 rebounds for his first double-double of the season. Ostrowski, the leading scorer in the PAC, matched his season average with 20 points, while Jones was a third Bearcat to reach double figures, scoring 10.
The game was a back-and-forth affair from the start, with the teams trading baskets from the start. Saint Vincent held a 7-6 lead at the first media timeout after a Tayler McNeal three-pointer, before Geneva answered to jump in front 17-15 at the 12-minute mark.
The Golden Tornado advantage would eventually swell to 30-24 on a Ryan Rachic three-pointer with 5:44 left in the half, before the Bearcats ended the opening frame with a flurry. Following Rachic's long-ranger, Iuzzolino scored five points in a 50-second span to cut the gap to 30-29 with just under five minutes to go. Gales would then take over to end the half, tying the game at 36 on a fast-break layup off of a Jones steal, before hitting three free throws over the final 47 seconds of the half to cap off a 15-6 SVC run and give the Bearcats a 39-36 lead at the break.
Saint Vincent stayed hot coming out of the intermission, with Gales scoring four points and Jones and Ostrowski two apiece to give the Bearcats a 47-41 lead with 16:12 left in regulation. The Golden Tornadoes promptly countered, using a pair of three-pointers to cut the deficit to 48-47 with 13:52 remaining, before taking a 51-50 lead on Triplett's layup with 12:48 to go.
The Geneva lead would eventually swell to eight, 62-54, with 7:20 remaining, but the Bearcats clawed back to tie the game at 64-64 on a Gales free throw with 5:13 to go. Ostrowski scored seven points over the 10-2 surge. Triplett and Mark Rachic would each connect on layups to put Geneva up 68-64 with 3:35 left, but the Bearcats would seize control down the stretch, setting up Jones' late-game heroics.
Triplett and Rachic each scored 19 points to lead Geneva, while Tipton scored 17, fueled by a 4-for-6 performance from behind the arc. The Golden Tornadoes shot 51 percent from the field (29-57) compared to SVC's 41 percent mark (28-68), but SVC scored 12 second-chance points off of 17 offensive rebounds and scored 16 points off of 11 Geneva turnovers.
Saint Vincent closed the night with a 42-33 advantage in rebounding, while the Bearcats were extremely careful with the basketball, turning it over a season-low three times.
Having opened the season with nine straight wins, the Bearcats are off to their hottest start to the season since the 2008-09 squad also began 9-0.
The Bearcats will now have a week-long layoff for finals week at Saint Vincent, before opening a busy weekend with a 3 p.m. bout at PAC foe Bethany on Saturday, Dec. 16. A day later, SVC will travel to Moon Township to take on Division-I Robert Morris in an exhibition matchup.