WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Feb. 22) -- The Thiel College Men's Basketball team led wire-to-wire in route to a 66-51 win over Waynesburg University Saturday afternoon in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) showdown from Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse to conclude the 2024-25 campaign.
The Tomcats finish the season 9-15 (8-12), sweep the season series with the Yellow Jackets (7-18, 5-15) and have now won 6 of the past 7 meetings with Waynesburg.
Reminiscent of their first meeting this season, the Tomcats jumped out of the gates strong with an 8-0 run in the first 4:19 that extended into a 24-8 lead at the 11:13 mark of the half on a
Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) pull-up jay.
Gabriel Gonzalez (Merida, Venezuela/Southwest Miami) tallied 8 points in the stretch and five Tomcats got in the points column during the run. The Yellow Jackets got as close as 12 points down (25-13) at the 8:44 mark, but the Tomcats responded with a 6-2 spurt capped by a
Mike Brown (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) 3-ball to pull back ahead by 16 at the 6:18 clip. Brown connected on another 3-pointer with 34 seconds left in the half which gave Thiel a 36-21 advantage heading into the locker room.
Accursio-Harris posted a career-high-tying 17 points on 5-of-8 shooting, 1-of-3 from deep and 6-of-7 from the stripe to go with a career-best-tying three assists, four rebounds and two steals.
Brown logged a season-best 17 points on 6-of-10 from the field, 3-of-4 from deep and 2-of-2 from the line to go with eight boards. Gonzalez finished with 10 points on 5-of-8 to go with four boards.
Thiel pushed the lead to 20 (45-25), its largest of the afternoon, with a 9-4 spurt to start the second half. Waynesburg answered with an extended 19-6 run over 8:38 to get within 7 (51-44) with 8:14 remaining. The visitors grew their advantage to 58-47 on an Accursio-Harris 3-ball with 3:30 left. Two free throws each from
Marlon Ellerbee (Temple Hills, Md./Oxon Hill) and Accursio-Harris down the stretch spelled the 66-51 final.
Ellerbee concluded his collegiate career with a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double, the fifth of his Thiel career. He caps his five-year career in Greenville as the programs 11th highest scorer with 1,102 points.
The quartet of Accursio-Harris, Brown, Ellerbee and Gonzalez combined for 54 of Thiel's 66 points and 37 of Thiel's 52 boards on the afternoon.
Das Sanders (Dallas, Texas/Fort Worth Christian) continued his solid play with eight rebounds, 4 points and two helpers.
Rob Thomas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) corralled seven boards and pitched in 3 points.
The Tomcats held the edge in second-chance points (14-9) and rebounds (52-38). Thiel held Waynesburg to 19-of-68 (27.9 percent) from the field and 4-of-19 (21.1 percent) from deep.
