NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (Nov. 8) -- The Thiel College men's basketball team held Penn State Shenango to 26.2% shooting in Friday nights 71-52 season-opening win on Ron Galbreath Court inside Buzz Ridl Gymnasium for the opener of Westminster College's Buzz Ridl Classic.

The Tomcats move to 1-0 on the year with the win while the Lions fall to 1-3.

Tied at 10 with 13:46 left in the first half, Mike Brown (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) hit a pull-up jumper that spearheaded a 10-0 Thiel run over the next 1:49 to grow the lead to 20-10. The Lions responded with a 10-4 spurt to cut the deficit to 4 with 6:38 left in the half, but a Marlon Ellerbee (Temple Hills, Md./Oxon Hill) 3-pointer on the ensuing possession pushed the lead back to 7.

Shenango got within 1 (29-28) at the 3:11 mark of the half, but a pair of 3-pointers on back-to-back possessions from Ellerbee and Gabriel Gonzalez (Merida, Venezuela/Southwest Miami) grew the lead back to 7. Brown added a layup at the 1:21 mark and a 3-ball with 8 seconds showing on the clock as the Tomcats closed the half on an 11-0 run to lead 40-28 at the break.

The Thiel run extended to 14 as Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) connected on an and-one off an Ellerbee assist to push the lead to 43-28 in the early stages of the second half.

Shenango got within 7 (46-39) at the 15:12 mark of the half but a 6-0 Thiel spurt pushed the lead back to 13 (52-39) with 11:06 left to play. Thiel lead by at least 11 points the rest of the game and closed the final 2:46 of the game on a 12-3 run to seal the 73-51 win.

The Blue and Gold held Shenango to 19.4% (6-for-31) shooting in the second half and 26.2% (17-for-65) for the game.

Ellerbee tied for the game high with 15 points on 6-of-11 from the field and 3-for-4 from deep to go with a team leading nine rebounds and two assists.

Brown also notched 15 points on 5-of-16 shooting and 4-for-4 from the line to go with four boards.

Gonzalez tallied 10 points on 3-of-6 from the field and 2-of-2 from 3-point range. He added a game-leading three assists.

Accursio-Harris added 8 points and tied with John Morgan (Indianapolis, Ind./Lebanon) for the game high in blocks (two). Morgan pitched in 7 points and seven rebounds.

Overall, nine Tomcats scored points as the Thiel bench outscored Shenango's 25-4.

Thiel returns to action tomorrow at noon when they take on Bridgewater in the second and final game of the Buzz Ridl Classic.