BETHANY, W.Va. (Jan. 17) -- The Thiel College Men's Basketball team dropped an 80-70 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) interdivisional clash at Bethany College Saturday afternoon inside Hummel Fieldhouse.
Kenny Ermat (Lauderdale Lakes, Fla./Boyd Anderson) posted his first career double-double with career highs in points (17) and rebounds (14). His 14 boards were also a contest most.
Anthony Henderson II (Miramar, Fla./Somerset Academy) contributed a career-best 17 points on 11-of-12 from the charity stripe.
The Tomcats (4-10, 1-5) used a 7-0 second-half run to jump ahead 39-35 on a
Khamari Accursio-Harris (Jupiter, Fla./Jupiter) 3-ball at the 16:49 mark. A pair of Henderson II free throws made it 47-44 before the Bison (6-9, 2-3) answered with 7-of-8 to lead 51-48.
Accursio-Harris added 11 points and three boards.
An Ermat bucket followed by two more Henderson II free throws got Thiel within 1 at 62-61 with 5:48 remaining before the home side answered with 7 straight to make it 69-61 with 3:39 left. A
Kadenne Kemp (Inglewood, Cali./Northgate (Pa.)) layup trimmed the deficit to 72-65 with 2:14 left but Bethany got 5 quick points on back-to-back possessions to climb ahead by 12 en route to the win.
Ermat finished 7-of-13 from the field and 3-of-5 at the line. He added a helper and steal each. Kemp tallied 9 points and grabbed five boards.
John DiCecco (Indianapolis, Ind./Lebanon) gave Thiel a 20-13 lead in the first half at the 10:13 mark with a 3-pointer. The Bison responded with 12-of-13 before 5 striaght from Thiel made it 26-25 Tomcats. A Kemp layup with 24 seconds left spelt the 30-30 halftime score.
The contest featured nine ties and six lead changes. Thiel held edges in points off turnovers (17-12) and second-chance points (14-6).
The Tomcats are back in action Wednesday for a 7:30 p.m. Mercer County clash at Grove City in PAC North action.
