Box Score GREENVILLE, Pa. – Freshman
Reggie Goosby (Fort Lauderdale, Fla./Cardinal Gibbons) recorded his first career double-double Saturday as the Thiel men's basketball team topped the visiting Thomas More Saints, 74-67.
Thiel, who hadn't beaten the Saints at home since Jan. 4, 2012, improves to 9-12 and 6-9 in Presidents' Athletic Conference play. Thomas More falls to 12-11, 11-3.
Goosby scored his 14 points on 5-of-10 shooting from the field, including 4-of-4 from the free throw line. He also grabbed 10 rebounds and blocked three shots.
Sophomore
Khari Bess (Waldorf, Md./Maurice J. Mcdonough) added 15 points, eight assists and four steals, while junior
Justin Dade (Upper Marlboro, Md./Bishop McNamara) added 11 points and five rebounds.
The Tomcats took a 13-11 lead on a
Jermaine Hamilton (Concord Township, Ohio/Thomas W. Harvey) layup with 14:16 to play in the first half, and never trailed from that point forward. Thiel took its largest lead of the game, 16, on a pair of free throws by Goosby with just 33 seconds remaining in the first half. The Saints scored a layup in transition with seven ticks to play in the first stanza, as Thiel held a 41-27 advantage at the half.
The Saints continued to chip away at Thiel's lead, getting to within three (67-64) on a jumper with 2:32 to play in regulation. The Tomcats quickly answered, as senior
Eric Mallinger (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice) laid the ball in the basket on Thiel's next possession to push the lead back to five (69-64). The Saints were forced to foul at that point, and Hamilton knocked down four-straight free throws to seal the win for the Tomcats.
Thiel was 25-of-55 (45 percent) from the field, while Thomas More was 22-of-57 (38.6 percent). The Tomcats only attempted a season-low four three pointers, while holding the Saints to a dismal 16 percent (4-of-25) from behind the arc.
Thiel also outrebounded the Saints, 40-to-24, behind Goosby's aforementioned 10 boards. Dade,
Luke Kochka (Monroeville, Pa. /Gateway) and
Josh Lumbus (Cleveland, Ohio/John Hay) each grabbed five rebounds.
A pair of single-season records fell in the win over the Saints, as
Eric Mallinger (Pittsburgh, Pa./Taylor Allderdice)'s two blocks gave him 51 on the season, surpassing Rich Williamson's 1999 total of 59 blocks. Bess recorded three steals in the win, giving him 77 on the season, and six more than Vince Manzella, who recorded 71 steals alongside Williamson on the 1999 team.
The Tomcats will be back in action again on Saturday, Jan. 22, when they hit the road to face Grove City at 3 p.m.
