WASHINGTON, Pa. – A second-half run, hot shooting and strong defensively play led the Washington & Jefferson men's basketball team to a 67-58 comeback win over Thiel in Presidents' Athletic Conference action on Wednesday night, Feb. 7.
 
Trailing by a margin of 29-23 entering the second half, the Tomcats scored first to cap off a 10-0 run to take an eight-point lead. The two teams split the first 24 points of the second half before the Presidents scored nine straight to grab a 44-41 lead. After Thiel tied the game at 46-46, the Presidents scored six points in 37 seconds to take control.
 
The Tomcats outscored the Presidents, 12-9, over a five and a half minute span to cut their deficit back to three points. Over the final 2:31, W&J held Thiel scoreless and scored six points of its own to put the game away for the win.
 
After going scoreless through the first three and a half minutes of the opening frame, Thiel got on the board first followed by a Jonathan DeVito (Pittsburgh, Pa./Pittsburgh Central Catholic) three-pointer. The two teams were neck and neck for more than 18 minutes of the first half before Thiel closed the half by scoring eight straight points to go into halftime with a six-point lead.
 
Sean Stinelli (Harrison City, Pa./Penn-Trafford) fueled a 44-point W&J second half with 14 points in the frame to finish with 17 points in the contest. Stinelli connected on 6-of-12 shots from the field including 5-of-9 from long range to tie his season high for made three-pointers in a game. It was also his fourth consecutive game with at least three makes from downtown as he also pulled in a season high tying six rebounds with a pair of assists.
 
DeVito and Amos Luptak (Sewickley, Pa./Quaker Valley) both tallied 11 points in the win as DeVito made four of his seven shots and three out of six from beyond the arc plus two assists and a steal. Nine of Luptak's 11 points came from the foul line to go along with three assists.
 
Brian Lindquist (Narvon, Pa./Pequea Valley) made an impact on defense, blocking a career-high six shots to go along with eight boards. Nicholas Campalong (Sewickley, Pa./Ambridge) logged his first career double-digit rebound game, posting 10 boards in addition to a season-high five assists. Brian Graytok (Greensburg, Pa./Greensburg Central Catholic) tied Campalong for the team lead in assists for the night with five.
 
Mitch DeZort (Tarentum, Pa./Highlands) led the W&J defense with a pair of steals.
 
The Presidents shot 51.7 percent (15-of-29) from the field in the second half, including 55.6 percent (5-of-9) from long range and 90 percent (9-of-10) from the free throw line. The team's nine made three-pointers marked the sixth occurrence this season while the defense's nine blocks were the most in a game in over 13 years.
 
W&J will be back in action on Saturday, Feb. 10, for a 3:00 p.m. home contest against PAC foe Bethany.