LATROBE, Pa. – Saint Vincent scored the first 10 points of the game and put together a wire-to-wire 87-84 victory over the visiting Washington & Jefferson College men's basketball team in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game Saturday evening in Westmoreland County.
The Presidents trailed by eight points with 3:01 to play and closed the game on a 31-14 run but fell short in its comeback efforts.
The loss drops the Presidents to 7-11 in the PAC and 8-15 overall. Saint Vincent improves to 15-3 in the conference and 20-3 overall.
With 18 points in Saturday's game,
Nick Gearhart (Huntingdon, Pa./Huntingdon) became the 26th player in program history to reach 1,000 career points. This marks the second-straight year that a men's basketball student-athlete has reached the milestone mark.
Alex Acosta (Acworth, Ga./North Cobb) led the Presidents with a game-high 21 points.
Matt Seidl (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) put in 13 points while
J.R. Mazza (Bridgeport, W.Va./University) made it four Presidents in double figures, as he finished with 12 points.
The Bearcats scored on its four possessions and pushed out to an early 10-0 lead over the Presidents. A three-pointer and layup by Seidl trimmed the deficit to 18-14 at the 13:55 mark of the first half.
Saint Vincent responded to extend its lead into double figures before a three-point play by Acosta cut the Saint Vincent lead to 29-25 with 8:21 to play in the half. A few minutes later, Mazza drained a three-point field goal to close the gap to one possession at 34-31.
The Bearcats used an 11-4 run to extend the lead back into double digits, as a three-pointer by Dev Ostrowski made the score 45-35 with just over two minutes to play in the half.
Layups by
Matthew Carte (Ravenswood, W.Va./Ravenswood) and Gearhart cut Saint Vincent's lead to 46-41 at halftime.
A banked in three-pointer by Acosta cut the deficit to 63-58 with 11:52 to play. However, the Bearcats pushed the lead back into double figures and continued to keep the Presidents at bay for the next several minutes. A driving layup by Gearhart trimmed the SVC lead to seven (72-65) with 7:46 to play.
Trailing by eight points with 3:01 to play, W&J used a quick 9-3 run to pull to within a point. Six-straight points by Mazza cut the deficit to 83-82 with 2:01 to play. An exchange of baskets, which was followed by splits at the free throw line set up SVC with an 87-84 lead with 23 seconds to play. W&J was able to get a look at the game-tying shot but its attempt hit off the rim at the buzzer.
Mike Iuzzolino scored 21 points to lead the Bearcats.
W&J heads to Grove City for its final conference road game of the regular season on Wednesday, Feb. 14. Start time is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. The Presidents can still qualify for the upcoming 2024 PAC Tournament with a pair of wins next week.
