GREENVILLE, Pa. - Kamran McCaskill (Carol City, Fla./Miami Beach) piloted a balanced Tomcat scoring attack in Saturday's 57-48 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) victory over visiting Washington & Jefferson College.

McCaskill finished with a game-high 22 points, three rebounds, three assists, and a steal for Thiel (5-0, 2-0 PAC). McCaskill was particularly effective at drawing contact and getting to the charity stripe, as he shot 16-of-18 from the free-throw line in the win. R.J. Brownlee (Donora, Pa./Ringgold) added 13 points and five rebounds, while Ladell Trotty (Cleveland, Ohio/Lutheran East) narrowly missed a double-double, adding ten points and a game-high nine rebounds. Chase McKinney, marred by foul trouble for most of the contest before fouling out with three minutes left in regulation, was limited to five points and six rebounds in 19 minutes of action.

The win gives the Tomcats its best start in program history, as no team in the 96-year history of Thiel basketball has begun a season 5-0. The win also improves the Tomcats' home record against PAC opponents to 16-1 over the past three seasons, with the lone loss coming against W&J in the first-round of the PAC playoffs last season.

R.J Pilato scored a team-best 11 points to lead W&J (2-5, 1-1 PAC). Pilato was the lone President to register double figures, as Mike Resnik came close with nine points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field.
 
The Tomcats outrebounded the Presidents 48-to-28 while forcing W&J to commit 17 turnovers. Both teams shot almost equally from the field, as Thiel shot 15-of-43 (34.9%) in comparison to W&J, who shot 17-of-49 (34.7%) from the field.

The visiting Presidents hung with the Tomcats throughout the first half, as the two teams exchanged the lead three times. The Presidents led 26-21 with 1:47 left in the first half, but four made free throws by Thiel's McCaskill trimmed the W&J advantage to 27-25 when the two teams headed into the locker rooms for halftime.

The Tomcats wasted little time asserting themselves offensively in the second, using a 6-2 run to start the second half to take a commanding lead with 15:54 left to play. The Tomcats never trailed again in the game, leading by as many as 13 (47-34) with 8:21 left to play. The Presidents where able to whittle the lead down to just five, 53-48, with just 34 seconds to play, but McCaskill was again clutch at the free-throw line, knocking down all four of his free throw attempts to give Thiel the 57-48 win.

The Tomcats return to PAC action on Wednesday, Dec. 5 when they travel to New Wilmington to take on Westminster College. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m.