Box Score

GREENVILLE, Pa. — Thiel's men's basketball team is headed to the Presidents' Athletic Conference finals after beating fifth-seeded Thomas More 78-65 Thursday at Beeghly Gymnasium.

The top-seeded Tomcats will host Bethany on Saturday, looking for their first conference title since 2000 and their first-ever automatic qualifier into the NCAA tournament. The third-seeded Bison held on for a 66-65 win over Saint Vincent in the other semifinal matchup.

Thiel's win over Thomas More was a much more competitive game than the final score indicated. The game was tied nine separate times and had seven lead changes.

With the score tied 53-53 with six minutes left to play, Thiel took the lead for good with a 7-0 run. Blair Rozenblad (Youngstown, Ohio, Kennedy Catholic) scored the first five points on a layup and 3-pointer while Aundra Jones (Youngstown, Ohio, Kennedy Catholic) capped the run with a layup.

The Saints battled back to within two (61-59) with 4:11 remaining on the clock, but that's as close as they would get.

It was the definition of a team-effort for the Tomcats as six different players reached double-figures in scoring, including all five starters. Rozenblad tallied a team-high 15 points and Devon Adams (Philadelphia, Pa., George Junior Republic) was right behind him with 14. Anthony Harvey (New Castle, Pa., New Castle) (13), Jones (11) and Lance Randall (Canfield, Ohio, Ursuline) (10) rounded out the Thiel starters while Ladell Trotty (Cleveland, Ohio, Lutheran East) came off the bench to score 13 points and grab eight rebounds.

Rozenblad finished with nine rebounds, one shy of giving him his 13th double-double of the season. Harvey led a staunch defensive effort with four of the team's 12 steals.

Trailing 33-31, the Saints had the ball with the opportunity to take the last shot of the first half. Instead, the Tomcats increased their lead as Adams stole the ball and showed his leaping ability at the other end, throwing it down to put an exclamation point on the half.

Thiel won despite a very poor night from beyond the arc, making just three of their 24 attempts. The Tomcats made sure it didn't hurt them by recording offensive rebounds on 10 of the 21 missed treys.

Offensive rebounds were huge for the Tomcats all game long. They had 21 offensive boards in the game to match their 21 defensive rebounds. They had 22 second-chance points, including their first six points of the game.

What it lacked from 3-point range, Thiel made up for at the foul line. The Tomcats converted 19 of their 22 free throw attempts. Randall was 6-6, Adams went 5-5 and Harvey was 5-6.

Daniel Whelan paced the Saints (13-14) with 18 points. Colt Stafford led all players with 10 rebounds.

Thiel heads to the championship game with an overall record of 20-6 and, more importantly, a perfect 12-0 record at Beeghly Gymnasium, the site of Saturday's game with Bethany.