NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (Jan. 29) -- The Thiel College men's basketball team dropped a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) contest at Westminster College 78-71 Wednesday evening on Ron Galbreath Court inside Buzz Ridl Gymnasium.

The Tomcats drop to 6-12 (5-9) and are now on a three-game losing skid while the Titans rise to 5-13 (2-12).

Thiel opened the second half with a 14-3 run over the first 3:12 capped off by a Marlon Ellerbee (Temple Hills, Md./Oxon Hill) layup to turn a 36-26 half-time deficit into a 40-39 lead. A 6-0 Titans run gave the home side a 50-44 edge at the under-12 media timeout, but the Tomcats responded with a quick 8-3 spurt in less than a minute to cut the deficit to 53-52 with 9:22 remaining on a Mike Brown (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) 3-ball.

Ellerbee posted a team-best and season-high-tying 19 points on 8-of-19 shooting and 2-of-3 from deep. He grabbed eight boards, dished out a trio of assists and swiped a game-high-tying two steals. Ellerbee has reached double-digit points in 13-of-18 games on the season.

Westminster grew its lead to 61-54 with 7:10 remaining before a 10-4 Tomcats run started and ended on Brown 3-pointers made it 65-64 with 3:17 remaining. The Titans followed with an 8-0 run from the 2:35 mark to the 59 second clip to go ahead by 9 (73-64) and seal the victory.

Brown finished with a season-high-tying 15 points on 4-of-8 from deep. His four 3-balls tied his season-best mark. The junior guard corralled four rebounds, had two helpers and pulled down a game-high-tying two steals. 

Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) connected on a jumper to cap off a 5-0 first-half run to lead 14-9 at the 12:12 mark. An Accursio-Harris jay cut Westminster's lead to 26-24 with 3:13 left in the half, but the home side ended the half on a 10-2 run over the final 3:13 to lead by 10 (36-26) at the break.

Accursio-Harris totaled 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting, 1-of-2 from deep and 2-of-3 at the free-throw line. He grabbed five rebounds, blocked a game-high two shots and tied for the game-lead with two steals. Accursio-Harris has reached double-figures in points in the Tomcats' last two games. 

Gabriel Gonzalez (Merida, Venezuela/Southwest Miami) contributed 8 points, pulled down a career-high-tying seven rebounds and had a team-leading four assists. Rob Thomas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) added 7 points and grabbed a game-best nine rebounds. 

Das Sanders (Dallas, Texas/Fort Worth Christian) pitched in 5 points and three boards while Logan Lentz (Greenville, Pa./Greenville) had 2 points and five rebounds.

The Tomcats held the edge on the glass (45-37) and tied there season high with 17 offensive rebounds. The Blue and Gold had a 6-point edge in points in the paint (32-26) and second-chance points (18-12).

Men's Basketball returns to action Saturday for a home 3 p.m. matchup with Franciscan.