PAC Westminster tops Tomcats, 111-100

Mark DeMonaco and Brian Fadden led the Titans' well-balanced scoring attack.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
GREENVILLE, Pa. -- Happy that his team picked up the win, Westminster men's basketball coach Larry Ondako was anything but happy with the way his club took care of business.
After a lackluster performance for much of the 40 minutes, the Titans had enough gas in the tank to post a 111-100 win over the Thiel Tomcats Wednesday night.
"I just thought we came out a little flat defensively tonight," said Westminster coach Larry Ondako. "We have played good, hard defense the past couple of weeks and I don't know what happened. But you have to give Thiel a lot of credit because during the past couple of weeks, they have played some real good basketball, especially with the adversity they have faced."
Thiel coach Mike Snell was happy with his team's effort.
"The last two to three weeks, we have been right there," said Snell. "We won a couple of games and [have been] in a couple others. We just came up a little short.
"We take pride in that we want to play 40 minutes of hard basketball and for the most part, the guys have been doing that."
DeMonaco, Fadden star
Mark DeMonaco scored 23 points to lead Westminster's well-balanced attack, while Brian Fadden chipped in with 18 points and 11 rebounds and Nick Adams also had 18 points. Craig Hannon added 15 points, Greg Rosatelli 12 and Brian Urso 10.
Thiel was led by Damien Williams' 42 points, while Geno Bianco had 21 with 11 rebounds, James Beedle 11 points and Andre Jones 10
Leading by as many as five points several times in the opening half, the Titans threatened to pull away, but the Tomcats cut their deficit to three (50-47) at halftime.
"It is not that I don't give [Thiel] a lot of credit, but I just thought we didn't play with much intensity at times," said Ondako. "I just thought we were very fortunate to be ahead at halftime."
Thiel shot 53 percent for the opening period in addition to showing a 24-20 edge off the glass. For the game, the Tomcats finished with 53 percent from the floor while out-rebounding the Titans 44-40.
The Tomcats cut their deficit to two points three times in the second half but it wasn't enough.
The difference in game
Snell felt the start of the second half was the difference.
"We just didn't get a good start in the second half and that is very important," said Snell. "The first five minutes of the half is crucial and we came out a little bit sluggish while they came out with a lot of intensity."