NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Thiel College men's basketball team dropped a non-conference game against the Bridgewater Eagles, 68-64, Saturday afternoon to conclude the Buzz Ridl Classic, hosted by Westminster.
Bridgewater held a slight 5-4 advantage heading into the first media timeout. After that, the Eagles went on a 15-6 run to open up a 20-10 advantage.
The Tomcats were able to cut the lead to 25-17, before the Eagles ended the first half on a 13-7 spurt to go into halftime up 38-24.
The Tomcats started the second half strong, opening the second half with a 14-4 run to cut the Eagle lead to 42-38 at the under-16 media timeout.
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Mike Brown (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) jumper with 13:20 left in the game cut the Tomcat deficit to just two, but a quick 6-1 spurt for the Eagles extended the lead to seven with just under 12 minutes remaining.
Bridgewater built up a nine-point lead with just over four minutes left in the game.
Thiel cut the Bridgewater lead to four points with 57 seconds remaining in regulation, before Bridgewater hit a pair of free throws to push the lead back to six.
A dunk by freshman
Rob Thomas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) cut the Bridgewater lead to two with nine seconds remaining, but the Eagles would sink a pair of free throws to seal the game.
Thiel was led by
Gabriel Gonzalez (Merida, Venezuela/Southwest Miami) who tallied a team-high 12 points and grabbed three boards.
Marlon Ellerbee (Temple Hills, Md./Oxon Hill) notched 11 points and dished out three assists, while Brown tallied 10 points and grabbed five boards.
Das Sanders (Dallas, Texas/Fort Worth Christian School),
Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) and Thomas all tallied nine points each, while Sanders grabbed a team-best six boards.
For Bridgewater, Joran Cooper tallied a game-high 16 points to go along with seven rebounds. Aaron Oates talled 15 points and five rebounds, while Khalil Ward added 11 points.
The Tomcats will host the Penn State Behrend Lions on Wednesday for the home opener. The non-conference game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m.
