MEADVILLE, Pa. (Jan. 15) -- The Thiel College men's basketball team held a double-digit second-half lead at Allegheny, but the home side outscored the visitors by 24 in the final 16 minutes to steal a 78-69 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) victory at the David V. Wise Center Wednesday evening.

The Tomcats drop to 5-9 on the year and 4-6 in PAC play while the Gators rise to 6-9 and 4-6 in league competition.

The Tomcats grew their lead as high as 15 (46-31) with 16:28 remaining in the game on a pair of Rob Thomas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) free throws, but Allegheny used a 21-6 run over the next 6:39 to knot things at 52 at the 9:34 mark. Marlon Ellerbee (Temple Hills, Md./Oxon Hill) connected on a pair of buckets on back-to-back possessions to push the Blue-and-Gold's lead to 56-52 with 8:29 left. A 5-0 Gators run ensued to make it 57-56 and give the home side it's first lead since 3-0 on the games first possession. Allegheny would not trail the rest of the night as they outscored Thiel 23-13 in the final 7:24 to seal the comeback win.

The Gators went 16-of-27 (59.3 percent) from the field and 6-for-11 (54.5 percent) from deep in the second half. The Tomcats went 9-of-25 (36 percent) shooting and 0-of-4 from deep in the final 20 minutes, but they did convert on 13-of-15 (86.7 percent) free throws. 

Ellerbee logged a solid all-around performance with 12 points and game bests in rebounds (12) and assists (six). His 12-point, 12-board showing marks his fourth career double-double and first since 2023. He went a perfect 4-for-4 at the free-throw line as he logged his most minutes in a game (37) since the 2022-23 season. 

Thomas posted 13 points on 4-of-9 shooting and 5-of-7 at the charity stripe while corralling six boards. Thomas has reached double figures in points in 6-of-7 games and 8-of-14 contests on the season.

Thiel used an 11-0 first-half run to take an 11-3 lead at the under-16 media timeout. The Tomcats grew the lead to 16-7 on a Gabriel Gonzalez (Merida, Venezuela/Southwest Miami) jumper. Allegheny notched the next 4 points before John Morgan (Indianapolis, Ind./Lebanon) connected on the first of his four first-half 3-pointers to make it 19-11. The Tomcats took a 38-28 lead into the break as they shot 50 percent (16 of 32) from the field and 50 percent (5 of 10) from deep while holding Allegheny to 33.3 percent (11 of 33) shooting and 15.4 percent (2 of 13) from beyond the arc. 

Gonzalez posted a team-best 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, 1-of-2 from 3-point range and 3-of-4 at the line. Morgan did all his scoring in the first half as he finished with a Thiel-career-best 12 points on 4-of-6 from deep to go with three rebounds. 

The Blue and Gold held the edge on the glass (36-32). Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) snagged eight boards, pitched in 6 points and dished out a trio of assists. 

Men's basketball returns to action Saturday for a home PAC matchup with Waynesburg University at 3 p.m.