GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College men's basketball team lost a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game to the Grove City Wolverines 71-69 on Wednesday.

Thiel jumped out to an early 11-5 lead behind two three-pointers from Daquan Simmons (Capitol Heights, Md./Central) with 17:03 left in the first half. Simmons dropped 13 of 18 points in the first half to lead the Tomcats to their 32-31 advantage going into the break.

Thiel spent the early part of the first half extending their lead to a double-digit margin to hold a 52-40 lead over Grove City with just over 11 minutes in regulation.

The Wolverines scored 11 points in just under three minutes to cut their deficit to 52-51 with a little less than nine minutes left on the clock.

The Tomcats answered with a 13-7 run of their own to push the lead back up to a seven-point margin with 4:57 remaining in the game.

As Grove City continued to fight back, Erik Meiners hit a three-pointer with 50 seconds left that would give the Wolverines the lead. James Wells and Nate Peters would each knock down a free-throw in the final seconds to seal the road win.

Chima Omeihe (Lake Worth, Fla./Park Vista Community) scored 16 points and grabbed 10 rebounds for his second double-double on the year. Michael Ricks (Cleveland, Ohio/Cleveland School of Architecture and Design) recorded 11 points and five rebounds.

Grove City was led by Justice Rice who scored a game-high 20 points.

The Tomcats will be back in action on Saturday when they face the Waynesburg Yellow Jackets on the road. The PAC game is scheduled for a 3:30 PM tipoff.