GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson men's basketball team could not overcome an 11-point second half deficit as a late rally fell short at Thiel, 65-57, in Presidents' Athletic Conference action on Wednesday night, Jan. 3.
 
Through more than the first 12 minutes of the game, both W&J and Thiel exchanged runs with the Presidents holding a slight 18-14 lead. Over the next two and a half minutes, Thiel scored nine unanswered points to gain a 23-18 edge. The Presidents answered by closing the half on a 13-4 run over the final 5:22 of the first half, fueled by nine points from Brian Lindquist (Narvon, Pa./Pequea Valley), to take a 31-27 lead into intermission.
 
After Thiel opened the second half with a three-pointer, W&J responded with five points of its own to push the lead up to six points. The Tomcats came back with a 16-2 run after that spanning more than five minutes to regain a lead at 46-38. Over the next 11 minutes of the game, the Presidents fought to pull back to within two points at 57-55.
 
Thiel closed the game with an 8-2 run to end the Presidents' hopes of a comeback win.
 
Lindquist led all scorers in the game with 20 points, one off his season high, on 7-of-8 shooting from the floor while also converting 6-of-7 from the charity stripe. He also pulled down a team-high eight rebounds and blocked two shots on the defensive end.
 
Nicholas Campalong (Sewickley, Pa./Ambridge) also cracked double-digit scoring, finishing with 10 points on 4-for-7 overall shooting to go along with four boards. Sean Stinelli (Harrison City, Pa./Penn-Trafford) posted a line of nine points, four assists and a steal.
 
The Presidents' defense limited the Tomcats to just 23-of-64 shooting (.359), including 3-for-16 (.188) from beyond the arc.
 
W&J will return to action on Saturday, Jan. 6, when it hosts its first home game of 2018 against Chatham at 3:00 p.m.