Men's Basketball | 12/4/2014 3:43:00 PM
GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College men's basketball team's game against the Division I Youngstown State University Penguins on Sunday, Dec. 7 will be broadcast on ESPN3. Tipoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.
ESPN3 is an online streaming service, which is part of ESPN, Inc. The Tomcats' game against the Penguins can be viewed live by clicking
here. To watch the game, fans must first register through their cable service provider.
Thiel is 2-4 on the season with wins over Penn State Beaver and Kenyon College.
Senior forward
Eric Mallinger (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) is averaging 11.3 points per game, the 14
th best average in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC). Mallinger also averages 7.2 rebounds per game, the third most in the conference. Junior point guard
Khari Bess (Waldorf, Md./Maurice J. McDonough), who led the nation (all divisions) in steals (85) last season, currently ranks 17
th in the PAC with an average of 10.5 points per game.
YSU is 5-4 on the season. The Penguins recently defeated Robert Morris, 89-81. Marcus Keene and Bobby Hain are the team's leading scorers, averaging 18.7 and 14.4 points per game, respectively.
The Penguins defeated the Tomcats 82-58 last season at the Beeghly Center in Youngstown, Ohio.
In addition to playing Division I YSU Sunday, the Tomcats also play two games against Division II opponents this season. Thiel lost to Division II Ashland University on Nov. 24 and will play Division II Edinboro University (Pa.) on Dec. 30.
The Tomcats and veteran head coach
Tim Loomis look forward to playing against regional teams in higher divisions.
"We play against Division I and II teams simply to get our players more experience against bigger, tougher, faster teams in a tough environment," said Loomis, who is in his ninth season leading the Tomcats. "You always try to prepare your team for bigger games. The whole premise is to get experience against tough competition and see how your team reacts, and the players like the experience."
