GREENVILLE, Pa. (Nov. 20) -- The Thiel College men's basketball team ended Wednesday nights chippy and physical home Presidents Athletic Conference (PAC) duel with Allegheny on a 5-0 run in the final 52 seconds to capture a 67-62 win on Maenpa Court at Beeghly Gymnasium.

The Tomcats rise to 2-3 overall and 1-1 in PAC play while the Gators fall to 0-3 on the year and 0-1 in league play.

Coming out of a Thiel timeout tied at 62 with 1 minute left in the game, Gabriel Gonzalez (Merida, Venezuela/Southwest Miami) hit a well-contested turnaround, fadeaway jay from the left block to put the Tomcats ahead 64-62 with 52 seconds remaining. Thiel forced an Allegheny over-and-back violation on the following possession to get the ball back with 34 seconds left. 

Mike Brown (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) connected through contact on a driving layup with 17 seconds left to push Thiel's leads to 66-62. A Gonzalez free throw with 4 seconds left sealed the 67-62 final. 

Gonzalez posted a game and season-best 18 points on 5-of-9 and 7-of-8 at the charity stripe. He added five rebounds to go with a team-leading two steals and one blocked shot.

Brown added 13 points on 6-of-16 and pulled down a pair of boards. The junior has posted double-figure point totals in all five of Thiel's games so far this season. Ellerbee finished with 6 points and pulled down a pair of rebounds.

The Blue and Gold used a 14-5 run to turn a 38-34 second-half deficit at the 15:28 mark into a 48-43 lead with 10:29 left to play. The run was capped off with an Anthony Henderson II (Miramar, Fla./Somerset Academy) left-wing 3-pointer that forced an Allegheny timeout. The freshman totaled 5 points on the night to go with two rebounds and one blocked shot.

The visitors responded with a 5-0 spurt to tie things at 48 with 9:24 remaining. Both sides went back and forth as the Gators clung to a 60-59 edge with 3:59 remaining. Rob Thomas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) canned a right-wing corner 3-ball on a busted play to give Thiel a 2-point edge (62-60). Allegheny tied things up on the following possession with 2:13 left.

Thomas pitched in 7 points, posted a team-best-tying two blocks and grabbed three rebounds. John Morgan (Indianapolis, Ind./Lebanon), Das Sanders (Dallas, Texas/Fort Worth Christian School) and Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) each added two blocks as well.

Accursio-Harris finished with 8 points and a team-leading seven rebounds while Morgan grabbed five boards. Logan Lentz (Greenville, Pa./Greenville) pitched in a career-best 7 points on 3-of-4 in the win.

The Tomcats trailed 28-26 at the break as neither side was able to find a rhythm or flow offensively due to defensive pressure and physicality on both ends of the court. The home side forced 11 turnovers and blocked four shots in teh firts 20 minutes. Offensively, Thiel stayed in the opening half thanks to going 10-of-13 at the free-throw line. 

The Blue and Gold shot 66.7% (18 for 27) from the field and 50% (3-for-6) from beyond the arc in the second half. For the game, Thiel made baskets at a 45.6% (26-for-57) clip and held the Gators to just 38.6% (22-for-57) shooting.

Thiel returns to action Saturday when they host PAC foe Saint Vincent for Hall of Fame Weekend at 3 p.m.