LATROBE, Pa. (Jan. 3) – Behind an impressive second half, the Saint Vincent College men's basketball team improved to 13-0 with an 86-74 victory over Allegheny College at the Robert S. Carey Student Center.
Trailing by five points at the half and by 10 with 16:43 left in regulation, the Bearcats (13-0, 8-0 PAC) roared back with a 26-7 run over the next eight minutes to seize a double-digit lead that they would not relinquish. Saint Vincent outscored Allegheny (5-8, 3-5 PAC) 50-33 in the second half, and 44-24 over the final 15 minutes.
Jaden Gales led four double-digit scores for the Bearcats with 24 points, while Osyon Jones added 16 points, Tayler McNeal 14 and Mike Iuzzolino 11. Dev Ostrowski narrowly missed a double-double, scoring nine points with nine rebounds, while also adding five assists.
Along with their balanced scoring attack, the Bearcats also turned in a strong defensive effort, forcing 16 Allegheny turnovers and limiting the Gators to just 41 percent (26-62) from the field, including a 32 percent (10-31) mark over the decisive second half.
Saint Vincent outrebounded Allegheny 47-43, with the Bearcats grabbing 18 offensive rebounds that led to 19 second-chance points. SVC also held a commanding 60-42 margin in points in the paint, while scoring 20 points off of the 16 Gator turnovers.
In a tight first half, SVC jumped out to a 9-6 lead three minutes into play, using four points from Jones, before the Gators promptly countered with a 9-4 run to take an 18-13 lead with 11 minutes left in the half. The back-and-forth continued, with SVC scoring the game's next five points, as Iuzzolino's three-pointer tied the game at 18 with 9:38 remaining in the frame. The two teams would combine for just five buckets over the next four minutes, with Allegheny taking a 25-22 lead with 5:44 to go in the half. The Gator advantage would eventually grow to seven, 41-34, with 51 seconds left, before McNeal's layup on the penultimate trip of the half cut the gap to 41-36 at the break.
Over the opening 20 minutes, each team connected on 16 field goals, but the Gators hit on four three-pointers to the Bearcats' two, and went 5-for-7 from the line compared to a 2-for-4 mark by the Bearcats.
After Allegheny opened the second half on a 9-4 run to take a 50-40 lead with 16:43 left in regulation, the Bearcats took over. The hosts scored on three straight possessions, with baskets from McNeal, Iuzzolino and Gales, before Jaden Bailey's fastbreak layup off of an Ostrowski steal closed the gap to 50-48. Twenty seconds later, a Gales free throw closed out the 9-0 run and made it a one-point game.
The Gators temporarily halted the SVC surge with four straight points to take a 54-49 lead with 13:32 left, but the Bearcats promptly regained control with a 17-3 surge over the next six minutes to take a 66-57 lead on a Jones layup with 7:36 remaining. Five different players scored over the run, with six points from Gales and five from Jones, while the SVC defense forced three turnovers and limited the Gators to just one field goal on nine attempts.
Allegheny chipped away to trim the deficit to six, 70-64, with 5:49 to go, but SVC promptly regained a double-digit lead after layups from Iuzzolino, Jones, and McNeal made it 76-65 with 4:33 remaining. The Bearcats then cruised down the stretch, maintaining a lead of at least 10 points the rest of the way.
After shooting just 39 percent from the field in the first half, SVC posted a stellar 53 percent (19-36) mark over the final 20 minutes. Conversely, the Gators, who shot 52 percent in the first half, shot just 32 percent in the second frame, including an 0-for-11 mark from behind the arc.
Ryan Lang paced Allegheny with 19 points, while Andre Wilder recorded a 16-point, 13-rebound double-double in the defeat.
Riding the best start in program history, the Bearcats will be back in action on Saturday, Jan. 6, traveling to PAC rival Washington & Jefferson for a 3 p.m. bout.