ERIE, Pa. (Nov. 19) -- The Thiel College Men's Basketball team fell in a close contest at Penn State Behrend 76-68 Wednesday evening in non-conference action from the Junker Center in Erie, Pa.
The Tomcats fall to 2-3 on the young season while the Lions improve to 2-2. The Blue and Gold had four players score in double figures.
The Lions extended their lead to 8 before a 7-2
Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) run got Thiel within 63-60 with 4:48 remaining in the game. The home side logged 7-of-9 to pull back ahead 70-62 before buckets from Accursio-Harris and
Anthony Henderson II (Miramar, Fla./Somerset Academy) made it 70-66 with 1:44 to go. The home side tallied 6 of the final 8 points to squeak away with the 76-68 triumph.
Accursio-Harris continued his solid start to the season with a career-and-game most 20 points on 7-of-18 and 6-of-8 from the free-throw line. He grabbed four rebounds and swiped a contest-leading two steals. Henderson II pitched in a career-high-tying 14 points on 4-of-7 from the field and 6-of-6 from the charity stripe.
Behrend built an 11-point second-half lead with an 8-0 spurt to go ahead 46-35 with 17:50 remaining. Thiel chipped away at the lead and got within 3 as
Mike Brown (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) canned a 3-ball and
Kenny Ermat (Lauderdale Lakes, Fla./Boyd Anderson) added a bucket to make it 54-51 with 11:19 left.
Brown recorded a season-best 17 points on 5-of-9 from the field and 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. His four made 3-pointers tie his career most. Ermat added 6 points on 3-of-6.
The Tomcats opened the contest on a 7-2 spurt as
John DiCecco (Indianapolis, Ind./Lebanon) buried a 3-pointer. The Tomcats extended the lead to 11-4 on a Brown 3-pointer off of a
Das Sanders (Dallas, Texas/Fort Worth Christian) assist before the Lions went on a 17-5 run to lead 21-16 at the midway point of the half. The home side went on to lead 38-34 at the break.
DiCecco logged 11 points on 3-of-6 from the field, 2-of-2 from deep and 3-of-4 at the line. Sanders had a contest-most-tying three assists and snagged four boards.
Behrend went a perfect 24-of-24 from the free-throw line while Thiel was 18-of-24. The Blue and Gold went 6-of-11 from deep while the Lions were 6-of-19. The Tomcats had just six turnovers and held a 14-4 edge in points off turnovers.
Thiel returns to the hardwood next Monday when they host Penn State Beaver in a 7 p.m. non-conference clash.
