GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College men's basketball team clawed their way to a 73-72 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) victory over the Westminster Titans Wednesday at Beeghly Gymnasium.
 
Both teams would battle for supremacy early on playing to a 6-6 tie in the opening five minutes of the game. The Tomcats and Titans would play to another tie at 9 and 11 respectively, in just under seven minutes of play.
 
The Titans used their 50% shooting from the field in the first half to pull away to a 41-33 lead at the halftime break.
 
Westminster began the second half on a mission, using a 13-6 run in less than five minutes to establish a 54-39 lead, their largest of the night.
 
With just under 15 minutes left in regulation, the Tomcats began to make their way back in to the game. Thiel went on 11-0 run capped off by a Devin Christian (Mechanicsville, Va./Lee-Davis) layup to cut the Titan lead down to single-digits with 10:50 left in regulation.
 
Less than a minute later, Westminster's Blake Payne hit a layup of his own to get the Titans' lead back up to double-digits, 61-50 with just over 10 minutes remaining.
 
Thiel chipped away over the next 10 minutes. Behind a 21-11 run during that span, the Tomcats got The Titan lead down to one point with less than a minute left in regulation.
 
As the clock was winding down, Nyric Gosley (Williamsport, Pa./Williamsport) created enough space to hit a step-back jump-shot just inside the three-point line to seal the win. Gosley was one of four Tomcats who scored double-digits. He finished the night with 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field and was 3-of-4 from the charity stripe.
 
Ahmad Tejumola (Waldorf, Md./Saint Charles) scored 15 points and hauled in a game-high 13 rebounds for his fifth double-double on the season. Off the bench, Chima Omeihe (Lake Worth, Fla./Park Vista Community) also scored 15 points. Michael Ricks (Cleveland, Ohio/Cleveland School of Architecture and Design) chipped in with 10 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field.
 
Thiel owned the advantage in second-chance points (12-11), bench points (31-27), fast break points (16-8) as well as a one rebound advantage on the battle of the boards (41-40).

The Tomcats will be back in action Saturday when they play the Saint Vincent Bearcats on the road. Tipoff for the PAC game is scheduled for 6 p.m.