GREENVILLE, Pa. – The top-seeded Thiel men's basketball squad will square off against third-seeded Bethany College in the 2011 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Men's Basketball Championship Tournament final Saturday evening at Beeghly Gymnasium. The Tomcats will be looking to secure their fourth conference championship and first since the 1999-2000 season.

A perfect 12-0 this season at Beeghly Gymnasium, Thiel (20-6) is allowing just 51.0 points, 35.7 field-goal shooting, 26.6 percent shooting from the 3-point line, and maintaining a plus-13.1 rebounding margin on its home floor. The latest NCAA Division III rankings (released Feb. 20) reflect the Tomcats' attention to defense – fourth in rebounding margin (+9.4), fifth in field-goal percentage defense (37.9%), 15th in three-point field goal percentage defense (29.1%), and 50th in scoring defense (63.2ppg).

Thiel has run off eight-straight wins since dropping back-to-back road contests against Saint Vincent College (L 56-55 on Jan. 22) and Geneva College (L 80-77 on Jan. 26).

The Tomcats have won three consecutive regular-season matchups against the Bison, including a sweep of their two contests this season. A Chace McKinney (Boardman, Ohio, Kennedy Catholic) jumper with two seconds remaining lifted the Tomcats to a 60-58 win at Beeghly Gymnasium on Jan. 3, while the Feb. 2 rematch saw Thiel limit the Bison to just 36 percent shooting and claim a 43-35 edge on the glass en route to a 66-59 victory in Bethany.

Saturday's contest will be Thiel's first appearance in the conference finals since falling to Grove City College 60-59 on March 1, 2003. Thiel dealt Bethany an 81-77 loss in the semifinal round that year to advance to the championship against the Wolverines.

Thiel's 78-65 semifinal win against fifth-seeded Thomas More College on Feb. 24 was the definition of a team effort with six different players reached double-figures in scoring, including each of the five starters. Blair Rozenblad (Youngstown, Ohio, Kennedy Catholic) 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), Aundra Jones (Youngstown, Ohio, Kennedy Catholic) (11) and Lance Randall (Canfield, Ohio, Ursuline) (10) rounded out the 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. Offensive rebounds were huge for the Tomcats, finishing with 21 offensive boards in the game to match their 21 defensive rebounds. They finished with 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.

Rozenblad paced the Tomcats offensively, averaging 15.5 points per game to go along with a PAC-leading 9.8 rebounds per game. Adams, the College's most recent 1,000-point scorer, is averaging 11.7 points and 5.9 assists per game, while Jones is contributing 10.3 points and 6.5 rebounds per game and leading the PAC in shooting percentage, knocking down 61.1 percent of his shots.

Reece Mabery scored all 15 of his points in the second half as Bethany (20-7) held off two late challenges from Saint Vincent College in the final 30 seconds to escape with a 66-65 victory in Thursday's other PAC Tournament semifinal in Latrobe.

Saturday's winner will receive the PAC's automatic bid to the 2011 NCAA Division III Basketball Tournament, set to begin the weekend of March 3-5, 2011.

With a significant number of fans expected for Saturday's game, parking will be limited in the lot directly adjacent to Beeghly Gymnasium. Additional game day parking is available behind the public safety and football offices, located off of Packard Avenue. Click here for a map of campus.

A live video feed of the PAC Championship final can be found by logging on to www.thielathletics.com. Live statistics will be available for this game by clicking here. The game is also to be aired on ESPN 96.7 (Hermitage, Pa.) with Brandon Phillian and Chris Burtch calling the action. Click here for the live ESPN feed.