GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College men's basketball team opened the 2024 portion of their season with a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) win over the Bethany Bison, 90-81, Wednesday night.

The Tomcats started the game well as they opened up a quick 10-4 lead. The Bison would fight their way back, knotting the score up at 12-12 after just five minutes.
The Tomcats closed the first half on an 11-0 run to go into the half up 48-35.

The second half was more of the same from the Tomcats, who built a lead as big as 15 points.

Bethany cut the Thiel lead to seven with just under six minutes to play, but the Tomcats were able to close out the game.

Thiel was led by sophomore guard Elijah Harden (Sharon, Pa./Kennedy Catholic) who notched a career-best 34 points to go along with six rebounds and two assists. Ethan Barnes (Boynton Beach, Fla./Suncoast) recorded 19 points and eight assists, while Rayshod Hooper (Baltimore, Md./St. Frances Academy) recorded 12 points and grabbed seven boards. Rudy Hyppolite (Lauderhill, Fla./Boyd Anderson) tallied 10 points and eight boards, while Jonah Biggers (Baltimore, Md./Calvert Hall) recorded eight points and eight rebounds.

Bethany was led by Tony Fox who tallied a team-high 18 points to go along with six steals. Cole Dailey recorded 12 points and six rebounds, while Colin Meany recorded 11 points.

The Tomcats will hit the road on Saturday when they travel to Mercer County foe Grove City. The PAC game is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.