AREA COLLEGES Shepard's 19 lead Denison past Thiel; Slippery Rock loses, 83-74

Grove City handled Allegheny, 82-59.
CINCINNATI -- Denison, behind Clint Shepard's game-high 19 points, held off a late Thiel rally to register a 75-73 win in the consolation game of the Franklin Savings Tip-Off Tournament, hosted by the College of Mount St. Joseph.
Denison (1-1) shot out to a 15-0 lead over the first 4:18 of the first half, led by three 3-pointers by Shepard.
A 3-pointer by sophomore forward Damien Williams capped a 21-7 Tomcats run to pull Thiel to within one, 22-21, with 8:58 remaining in the half, but the Big Red bounced back to capture an eight-point lead (37-29) going into the break.
The Big Red outscored the Tomcats 26-16 over the first 11:01 of the second half to claim a 63-48 lead with 8:59 to play.
The Tomcats, paced by 12 from junior guard Daryl Moore, outscored the Big Red 28-12 run over the final 8:59 to get to within two, but a last-second jumper by senior forward Mike Banach wouldn't fall, preserving 75-73 win for Denison.
Denison had four players in double-digits, led by Shepard's 19. Chris Hull added 10 along with a game-high 10 rebounds for the Big Red.
Sophomore forward Stephen Laird had 16 points and six rebounds for the Tomcats. Moore added 15 points while freshman guard Chris Kwolek chipped in with eight.
W. Va. Tech 83, Slippery Rock 74
ERIE, Pa. -- Philip Godfrey collected 25 points and eight rebounds for West Virginia Tech (2-1).
The Rock (1-2) led 45-35 at the break but was called for 29 fouls.
Slippery Rock was out-shot at the foul line, 27-16.
Jason Taylor scored 19 points and grabbed 15 rebounds while Bill Johnson added 17 points for the Rock.
Grove City 82, Allegheny 59
PITTSBURGH -- Ryan Eller, Tanner Prosser and Matt O'Brien scored 22, 12 and 10 points, respectively, for Grove City (1-1) in the second night of the West Penn Classic.
Combined the trio shot 19-for-27 from the field.
The Eagles assumed a 39-33 lead at the break.
For Allegheny (0-2), Billy Dungee scored 18 points by hitting 6-of-17 3-point goals.
Centre 81, Westminster 65
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Westminster sophomore Mark DeMonaco, a New Castle High graduate, scored 22 points and sophomore Brian Fadden, a Mohawk High graduate, added 19 in a losing effort in the Buzz Ridl Classic.
Both players made the all-tournament team.
Monaco also had a team-high nine rebounds and freshman forward Randall Poindexter, a Wilson High graduate, added 10 points for the Titans (1-1).
Cov Zerhusen had 19 points and 11 rebounds for Centre (2-0).