MEN'S COLLEGE BASKETBALL Grove City secures 1st PAC win, 73-66

Ryan Eller scored a game-high 23 points to lead the Wolverines past Thiel.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
GROVE CITY -- Grove City College was picked to finish atop the President's Athletic Conference. With season-ending injuries to Phil Bushre and Nate Maurer, all that has changed.
Going into Saturday's game against Thiel, the Wolverines were 6-10 overall and 0-2 in the PAC.
Returning to its home floor, Grove City (7-10, 1-2) picked up its first league win Saturday at the WolvArena by defeating the Tomcats, 73-66.
Grove City coach Steve Lamie said the victory is something for his club to build on.
"We just talked before the game about being tough both mentally and physically," said Lamie. "In the Westminster game, we got down and couldn't make a run at them and that hurt us. When they (Thiel) made a couple of those runs at us, I just said to the guys, 'Hey, we have been there and done that so don't panic.'
"Today we had to make several runs just to stay in the game," said Lamie. "That is what I was most pleased with. When they made runs at us, we were able to counter with runs of our own and combine that with our solid defensive effort."
Back and forth
The Tomcats went on a 13-2 run to take a 24-18 lead.
However, that is when Grove City point guard Mike Lukcic ignited a 12-4 Wolverine run with a pair of 3s, allow the Wolverines to take a 36-32 lead at halftime. Lukcic scored 10 of his 17 points during the stretch.
"I had a long talk with Coach Lamie [Friday]," said Lukcic. "After that, I felt like I had a lot of confidence in what we are doing and fortunately, that carried over for me into today's game."
Down the stretch
Thiel (6-12, 0-3) still trailed by just a point in the final minutes, Lukcic and Ryan Eller took control, combining for six of the final 10 Wolverine points.
"We had a lot of close games this year," said Lukcic. "We won some and we lost some so what we are trying to do now is to build off this game and establish some consistency."
Eller finished with a game-high 23 points.
"The last two times I touched the ball, they were guarding me with a real small kid and I knew I could get in the post," said Eller. "They were jumping at every head-fake so when I got him there, the last two times I used a pump-fake and got open for some easy shots.
For Thiel, Chris Kwolek led the way with 20 points, Kowlek followed in doubles by Mike Banach (15) and D.J. Gambridge (12).