COLLEGE BASKETBALL | Regional games
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Westminster 122, Thomas More 92
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Westminster shot 69 percent from the field (38-of-55), including 67 percent from 3-point range (24-of-36) as the Titans advanced to the semifinals of the Presidents' Athletic Conference tournament. Third-seeded Westminster (11-15) will now host fourth-seed Waynesburg College (15-10) in another first round game on Thursday. The other semifinal has top-seeded Bethany (21-4) hosting seventh-seed Thiel (5-21). Sophomore guard Craig Hannon (Union) got Westminster off and running with 15 points in the first 4:12 of the game, leading the Titans to an 18-11 advantage. Westminster steadily increased the advantage through the remainder of the opening half before going into halftime with a 30-point lead (70-40). The Saints got no closer than 26 points in the second half. Hannon finished with a game-high 24 points on 7-of-11 shooting from 3-point range. Classmate Nick DiNatale was 7-of-7 from the field, including 6-of-6 from beyond the arc, for 20 points. Senior guard Mark DeMonaco (New Castle) had 16 and sophomore forward Brian Urso added 13. Senior guard Brian Fadden (Mohawk) snared a team-high seven rebounds for Westminster while DeMonaco dished out a game-high nine assists. Charles Kinney paced Thomas More with 20 points off the bench.
Thiel 73, Washington & amp; Jefferson 72
WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Thiel junior forward Geno Bianco poured in a career-high 27 points, including the game-winning free throws with 4.6 seconds left, and grabbed eight rebounds for the seventh-seeded Tomcats in their 73-72 upset win over second-seeded Washington & amp; Jefferson. Bianco made 8-of-15 shots from the floor, including 5-of-8 shooting from 3-point range, in 29 minutes. The Tomcats also got 10 points and five rebounds from freshman guard Andre Jones and nine points and six assists from junior guard Tony White. The win marked the first road victory for Thiel (5-21) this season. The Tomcats shot 49.1 percent (26-53) from the field and knocked down 52.3 percent (9-17) of their 3-point attempts. W & amp;J (10-16) finished with a 39-30 advantage on the glass. The Tomcats ran out to a 15-9 lead in the first six minutes after Bianco drilled back-to-back three-pointers. Freshman guard James Beedle (McDonald) upped the Tomcats' lead to 23-17 after a triple at the 8:30 mark, but a 17-5 stretch by the Presidents over the next four minutes put W & amp;J on top, 34-28. Brandon Studer knocked down three treys during the spurt, including one which pushed him over 1,000 points for his career. Bianco made another 3-pointer 34 seconds before halftime to trim Thiel's deficit to 40-38 after 20 minutes of play. The first half featured nine lead-changes and four ties. Washington & amp; Jefferson held 3-point leads on three occasions in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but Thiel would not go away and took a 54-52 lead on Bianco's triple with 8:33 remaining. Kevin Bringman's 3-pointer at the 5:39 mark pushed the Presidents ahead, 61-59, but Bianco has the answer once again with a jumper a minute later for a 64-63 Tomcat lead. Bianco's layup with 3:16 left on the clock made it a 69-65 TC lead, but Jon Koch buried a triple on the next possession to bring W & amp;J to within 69-68. Josip Lucic-Jozak canned a pair of free throws for W & amp;J with 2:28 remaining to give the Presidents a 70-69 lead; however, Bianco scored 15 seconds later for a 71-70 Thiel edge. Koch's running jumper at the 1:17 mark gave W & amp;J the lead back (72-71) and neither team was able to score until Bianco's free throws in the final seconds. W & amp;J could not get a shot off in the final 4.6 seconds. Lucic-Jozak paced the Presidents with 26 points and 12 rebounds, making 11-of-14 shots from the field. Koch added 17 points and five rebounds, while Studer netted 14 points. W & amp;J made 45 percent (28-of-62) of its attempts from the field and 38.1 percent (8-21) of its 3-point attempts.
Waynesburg 67, Grove City 60
WAYNESBURG, Pa. -- Jeff Nero's 17 points led Waynesburg (15-1) to the tournament victory. For Grove City, (9-17), Ryan Gerber scored 21 points while Joe Capotosta had 15.
Ohio Wesleyan 106, Allegheny 67
DELAWARE, Ohio -- Andy Warnock scored 18 points to lead Ohio Wesleyan in the North Coast Conference quarterfinals. The Battling Bishops (18-8) shot 60 percent from the field and held a 65-34 lead at the half. They held the Gators (11-14) to 34 percent from the field. Warnock finished 4-of-7 from behind the arc. Dustin Rudegeair scored 16 points, and Ben Chojnacki added 12. Bill Babe led Allegheny with 15 points. Ben Torsney scored 13, and Jimmy Savage finished with 11.
Kent St. 82, Bowling Green 66
BOWLING GREEN -- DeAndre Haynes scored 21 points to lead Kent State. The Golden Flashes (20-7, 13-2 Mid-American Conference) took a half-game lead over Akron in the MAC East Division. Akron plays Miami (Ohio) today and Ohio on Saturday. Kent State plays Miami on Saturday. The Falcons (9-17, 5-10) tied it at 23 with 5 minutes to play in the first half, but Kent State went on a 9-2 run to end the half and led by at least five the rest of the way. Bowling Green shot 55 percent from the field but turned the ball over 22 times and had just three offensive rebounds. Martin Samarco led Bowling Green with 19 points, Mawel Soler added 15, Erik Marschall had 14 and John Floyd had 10. Armon Gates had 19 for Kent, Jay Youngblood had 18 and Kevin Warzynski added 12 points and 11 rebounds.
WOMEN
Wesminster 75, Thiel 39
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Westminster rolled to a 41-11 halftime lead and never looked back as the sixth-seeded Titans (8-18) upset third-seeded Thiel (7-19) in the opening round of the PAC tournament. Westminster, the defending PAC champs, will play at top-seeded Washington & amp; Jefferson (20-4) on Friday. In the other tournament semifinal, fifth-seeded Waynesburg (14-12) will face No. 2 Thomas More (19-7). Waynesburg topped Bethany 89-83. Westminster raced to an 11-2 lead in the opening five minutes and slowly built its lead the remainder of the half before going into halftime with the 30-point lead. Sophomore forward Terese Marszalek led Westminster with a career-high 22 points on 10-of-13 shooting from the field and had a game-high 12 rebounds. Sophomore guard/forward Emilee Ackerman added 16 points, junior guard Nicole Fee (Neshannock) had five assists and junior Desiree Sterling (Newton Falls) added four steals. Thiel was paced by Amber Bodrick and Heather Abate with 12 points apiece.
Thomas More 72, Grove City 59
CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. -- Alex Gee scored 17 points to lead the Saints (19-7) in the PAC Tournament. For the Wolverines (7-19), Elyse Bogusz scored 16 points and Rachel McCoy (Beaver Local) scored 14.
Baldwin-Wallace 80, Heidelberg 57
BEREA -- Sophomore Carly Flowers scored a career-high 14 points for the Yellow Jackets (23-3) in the Ohio Athletic Conference tournament quarterfinal. Senior center Jenn Neal also scored 14.
Vindicator staff/wire reports