LATROBE, Pa. – The Thiel College men's basketball team was defeated, 61-65, by the Saint Vincent Bearcats in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game Saturday evening.
 
The Tomcats started the game with 10 unanswered points. The Tomcats held the Bearcats scoreless for the first 4:48 of the game. The Bearcats began to chip away at the Tomcats' early lead, as the Tomcats led 17-12 halfway through the first half. Saint Vincent took its first lead of the game with 3:59 left in the first half (24-23). The Tomcats were outscored 4-8 to close out the half and trailed 27-32 at half.
 
In the second half, the Tomcats and Bearcats were nearly even, with the Tomcats outscoring the Bearcats 34-33, but the Bearcats would hold onto the lead to win 65-61.
 
For the Tomcats, Marlon Ellerbee (Temple Hills, Md./Oxon Hill) tallied a career-high 22 points on 7-of-11 shooting, including 7-of-10 from the free throw line. He also added a team-high three steals. Ahmad Tejumola (Waldorf, Md./Saint Charles) led the Tomcats with 15 rebounds and scored 14 points for his sixth double-double of the season. Beni Lavodrama (Washington, D.C./Phelps ACE) and Rayshod Hooper (Baltimore, Md./St. Frances Academy) each scored double-digit points with nine and five rebounds, respectively. Lavodrama also led the Tomcats with three assists.
 
For the Bearcats, Anthony Dillard and Oyson Jones led with 26 and 17 points, respectively. The pair combined to shoot 18-for-21 on free throws.
 
The Tomcats' next scheduled game is next Saturday at Geneva. The PAC match is scheduled to begin at 5 p.m.