GROVE CITY, Pa. (Feb. 12) -- The Thiel College men's basketball team kept its Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Championship Tournament hopes alive as they coasted to a 76-54 win over rival Grove City College Wednesday evening at Grove City College Arena.

The Tomcats rise to 8-14 (7-11) and sit 1.5 games back of Franciscan (8-9) for the sixth and final seed in the Conference Tournament. The Wolverines drop to 14-8 (11-6).

A Mike Brown (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) 3-ball started a 7-0 Thiel run early in the first half that put the Tomcats ahead 11-4 at the 13:37 mark. Thiel did not trail the rest of the nigh following Brown's 3-pointer. Grove City got within 6 (19-13) at the under-8 media timeout before free throws from Das Sanders (Dallas, Texas/Fort Worth Christian) and Marlon Ellerbee (Temple Hills, Md./Oxon Hill) kick started a 17-4 Thiel spurt in the final 7:54 of the half that put the visitors ahead 36-17 at the intermission. John Morgan (Indianapolis, Ind./Lebanon) totaled all 5 of his points on the night in the near-8-minute stretch. 

Thiel was 15-of-32 (46.9 percent) shooting in the first half while Grove City went just 8-of-29 (27.6 percent) from the field and 1-of-7 (14.3 percent) from deep.

Ellerbee notched a game-leading 17 points on 4-of-9 shooting, 8-of-11 from the stripe and 1-of-1 from deep for his team-best 16th double-digit scoring effort of the season. He dished out a game-high-tying four assists, grabbed four boards and swiped two steals. 

Sanders continued his solid streak of play with a career-high-tying 15 points on 7-of-10 to go with a pair of boards and one assist. The Texas native has averaged 14.3 points in the past three contests on 17-of-30 (56.7 percent) from the field. Brown tossed in 9 points on 4-of-9, snatched a game-best three steals, corralled three boards and had three helpers.

Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) canned a 3-ball at the 15:20 mark of the second half to give Thiel its largest lead of the night at the time (48-25). The Wolverines used a 10-5 spurt to get within 15 (50-35) with 10:06 left to play, but an Anthony Henderson II (Miramar, Fla./Somerset Academy) jumper off a Kyam Exum assist followed by a Sanders layup off a dish from Logan Lentz (Greenville, Pa./Greenville) pushed Thiel's lead back to 59-40 with 7:44 remaining. The Blue and Gold outscored the home side 17-14 the rest of the way in route to the 22-point win.

Thiel was 15-of-23 (65.2 percent) from the field and 2-of-3 (66.7 percent) from deep in the second half. Grove City was 15-of-27 (55.6 percent) shooting and 4-of-10 (40 percent) from beyond the arc in the final 20 minutes but were still outscored 40-37.

Henderson II posted a career-best 14 points on 6-of-6 from the field and 2-of-4 at the line to go with a game-high-tying four assists and a pair of rebounds. Lentz and Exum each dished out a pair of assists on the night. 

Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) pitched in 10 points on 4-of-7, grabbed a team-best five boards and had two assists. 

The Tomcats notched a season-best 18 assists in the win and had just eight turnovers while the Wolverines turned it over 19 times. Thiel capitalized on Grove City's mistakes and held a 32-2 edge in points off turnovers. The visitors outpaced the home side in fast-break points 20-2. 

Men's Basketball returns to action next Wednesday, Feb. 19, at home versus PAC foe Washington and Jefferson College for senior night at 7:30.