GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College men's basketball team beat the Washington and Jefferson Presidents, 75-72, in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game at home Monday night.

The Presidents held a slight 12-10 advantage heading into the first media timeout. A short 6-0 run gave the Tomcats the lead.

The first half was back and forth the rest of the way. The Tomcats were able to maintain a 38-33 lead at halftime after Mike Brown (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) drilled a three-pointer to end the half.

Thiel was able to build a nine-point lead, the largest of the game for either team, with just over four minutes to play in the game. However, an 8-0 run by Washington and Jefferson cut the Tomcat lead down to one.

Senior guard Marlon Ellerbee (Temple Hills, Md./Oxon Hill) went 4-4 from the charity stripe down the stretch to secure the Tomcat victory.

The win snapped a five-game losing skid for the Tomcats.

Thiel shot 21-28 (75 percent) from the charity stripe.

Thiel was led by Elijah Harden (Sharon, Pa./Kennedy Catholic) who recorded 16 points and five assists. Ethan Barnes (Boynton Beach, Fla./Suncoast) and Rudy Hyppolite (Lauderhill, Fla./Boyd Anderson) each tallied 12 points. Hyppolite recorded nine rebounds. Freshman Jonah Biggers (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall) recorded none points and a game-high 14 rebounds off the bench for the Tomcats. Ellerbee and Brown each tallied nine points.

The Presidents were led by Alex Acosta who led all scorers with 20 points and added 14 rebounds. Nick Gearhart, Matthew Carte and Brandon Jakiela all tallied 11 points each.

The Tomcats will return to play on Saturday, December 30 when they travel to play NCAA Division II school the Malone Pioneers. The non-conference game is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.