GREENVILLE, Pa. (Feb. 5) -- The Thiel College men's basketball team used a 17-0 second-half run to top Bethany College 78-70 in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) matchup Wednesday evening on Maenpa Court at Beeghly Gymnasium.

The Tomcats improves to 7-13 (6-10) on the season, halt a four-game losing skid and extend their winning streak over the Bison (7-13, 2-13), who drop to last place with the loss, to seven games. 

Thiel trailed 40-30 at the 17:35 mark of the second half before a Das Sanders (Dallas, Texas/Fort Worth Christian) hook shot spearheaded a 17-0 run over the next 4:12 that put Thiel ahead 47-40 with 13:23 remaining. Sanders dropped 9 points in the run as Thiel was 7-of-9 from the field and 3-of-3 at the line in the spurt while holding Bethany to 0-for-5 shooting and 0-for-4 from deep.

Sanders played unarguably his best game of the season with career highs in points (13), rebounds (nine), made field goals (5-of-10) and minutes (24). His nine boards were a game best and five of them came on the offensive end, also a new career high. 

The Tomcats pushed the 17-0 run into an extended 30-8 spurt at the 8:52 mark to lead 60-48 on a Deuce Bevins (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) and-one free throw. Rob Thomas (Pittsburgh, Pa./Penn Hills) added 8 points in the stretch. In total, Thiel was 12-of-14 shooting and 6-of-6 at the line during the 8:43-run. 

Bevins pitched in a career-best 7 points, all of which came during the extended run, on 3-of-5 in 8 minutes of action off the bench. Thomas totaled 12 points on 5-of-11 and 2-of-2 from the charity stripe to go with three boards on the night.

Bethany made a late-push and cut the deficit to 68-60, but a Gabriel Gonzalez (Merida, Venezuela/Southwest Miami) jumper made it 70-60 with 2:41 remaining. The visitors got within 5 at 70-65 with just under 2 minutes to play, but a Thomas layup off a Marlon Ellerbee (Temple Hills, Md./Oxon Hill) assist made it 72-65 with 1:29 showing on the clock. The last-place Bison played the foul game late but to no avail as the Tomcats went 6-of-6 from the line in the final 1:21 to seal the 78-70 victory.

Thiel shot 65.4 percent (17-of-26) and went 18-of-18 from the free-throw line in the second half while holding Bethany, the conferences leading 3-point-attempt-taking team to 15.4 percent (2-of-13) from deep in the final 20 minutes. The Tomcats' 52 second-half points are the teams most in a half this season.

From the line, the Blue and Gold set season highs in makes (22) and percentage (95.7) as they finished 22-of-23 on freebies.

Gonzalez notched a team-best 15 points on a perfect 9-for-9 from the free-throw line and 3-of-5 from the field to go with a trio of helpers. Ellerbee finished with 9 points on 5-of-6 from the line to go with seven rebounds, a game-high-tying five assists and a game-best-tying two steals. 

Bethany jumped out of the games strong and led 27-12 at the 7:16 mark of the first half. Thiel closed the opening 20 minutes on a 9-4 run to trail 33-26 at the break. Mike Brown (Clinton, Md./Gwynn Park) had 5 points in the run while Sanders had 4. Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) nabbed five first-half boards.

Brown stuffed the stat sheet with 10 points, three rebounds, three assists, and a game-best-tying two steals. He was 3-of-4 from the field, 2-of-3 from deep and 2-of-2 at the line in 36 minutes of action. Accursio-Harris pitched in 8 points on 4-of-8, grabbed six boards, dished out three assists and tied for the game high with a pair of steals.

The Tomcats used their defensive intensity to get out in transition and outscore the Bison 23-8 on the fast break. Thiel held the edge in points in the paint (42-36) and points off turnovers (15-11).

Men's basketball returns to action Saturday in Pittsburgh for a showdown with PAC-leading Chatham at 2 p.m.