Box Score

GREENVILLE, Pa. – The second-seeded Tomcats were knocked off Tuesday night at Beeghly Gymnasium by seventh seed Washington & Jefferson College 91-89 in the quarterfinals of the 2012 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Men's Basketball Championship Tournament.

PAC scoring leader Zach Bellhy shouldered the load for W&J (9-17) as he led five Presidents in double figures. Bellhy scored a game-high 23 points to go along with six rebounds, three assists, and a pair of blocks Tuesday night and averaged over 23 points per game against the Tomcats this season.

Andy Carter added 20 points and 10 rebounds with Mike Resnik contributing 14 points on 5-of-8 shooting in 29 minutes off the W&J bench. Uchenna Okocha and R.J. Pilato added 11 and 10 points, respectively.

The Presidents, who entered Tuesday's quarterfinal averaging 64.4 points per game, finished shooting 56.6 percent (30-53) from the floor and went 26-of-33 (78.8%) from the free throw line.

Blair Rozenblad (Youngstown, Ohio/Kennedy Catholic) paced four double digit scorers for Thiel (16-8), finishing with 21 points, 16 rebounds, and five steals. Devon Adams (Philadelphia, Pa./George Junior Republic) added 19 points and five assists while Chace McKinney (Boardman, Ohio/Kennedy Catholic) and Anthony Harvey (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) added 14 and 13 points, respectively.

Thiel shot 41.0 percent (34-83) from the field and was limited to just 15 opportunities at the free throw line, converting on 13 (86.7%).

During the regular season the Tomcats earned a series sweep against the Presidents, winning 63-48 in Greenville on December 3 and 68-64 in Washington on January 25, and managed a plus-30 rebounding margin (79-49) over the two-game span; on Tuesday, Thiel and W&J were tied at 37 rebounds apiece.

Mitch Locher's layup with just under 11 minutes remaining in the first extended the visitors lead to nine, 25-16, before Thiel used a 10-2 run to get to within one, 27-26, with 7:34 left in the half.

The Presidents answered Thiel's run with a 12-2 burst of their own and pushed their lead to 11, 39-28, with 3:45 to go in the half. A Rozenblad tip-in with 19 seconds remaining saw Thiel earn just its second lead of the contest and go up by one, 40-39, but a pair of Bellhy free throws with seconds on the clock gave W&J a 41-40 advantage heading into the break.

A McKinney layup with just 49 seconds elapsed in the second gave the Tomcats a 44-43 lead, but again the Presidents responded, outscoring Thiel 12-4 over the next 3:29 to assume a 55-48 advantage.

W&J pushed its second-half lead to as many as 13, 72-59, before Thiel outscored the visitors 14-5 down the stretch to get back to within two, 91-89, with four seconds remaining. A head's up inbounds play secured the road playoff upset for the Presidents.