Westminster overcomes Thiel’s lead for sixth win

Ryne Murray scored 25 points and Craig Hannon 21 to lead a 65-58 victory.

By BILL ALBRIGHT

VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. — The game was there for the taking, and it was Westminster who took it, defeating Thiel, 65-58, in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference men’s basketball game Saturday.

The Tomcats, behind the efforts of Brandon Mirizio (Kennedy Catholic), Nick Sefscik, Joe Herrmann and Tommy Hall (Campbell), broke out to a 17-6 lead seven minutes into the contest.

“Three missed layups, that is the big reason why we were down by the 11 points early in the game,” said Westminster coach Larry Ondako. “When we were down by 17-6, I really felt it should have been 17-10 so I wasn’t really that worried. I told the guys there was nothing that I could do because they had layups and didn’t make them.”

Down by the 11 points, Ryne Murray and Craig Hannon (Union) took over as the duo combined for 16 points in a 15-4 run that deadlocked the score at 21.

“Herrmann picked up those two quick fouls and we had to sit him for 14 minutes of the first half. That really hurt us,” said Thiel coach Tim Loomis. “And when he came back at the start of the second half, he never got into a rhythm and struggled the rest of the way.”

With his team down early in the game, Ondako threw a zone defense at Thiel that disrupted the Tomcats.

“Our guys on the bench are going to be nice players, but they are only freshmen,” said Ondako. “That [a zone] is the only real way we can play because we have to keep Ryne Murray and Craig Hannon in the game, keep ourselves close and then do what we did at the end.”

Loomis felt the big factor was the inability of his players to attack the zone.

“And with Herrmann out of there, that makes a huge difference for us with him out of the high post area. We started attacking it much better at the end of the half.”

Mirizio gave the Tomcats a 28-26 lead with a basket and two free throws.

“We held them to 28 points and we were losing,” said Ondako. “I told them, ‘Hey, if we hold them to another 28, we have a chance to win the game.’ ”

Murray and Hannon gave the Titans a 32-28 lead, but the Tomcats regained the lead at 33-32. From there, the next 18 possessions resulted in 16 lead changes before Westminster (6-17, 4-7 PAC) took charge with a 9-0 run to take a 58-49 lead with under four minutes remaining.

The Tomcats (9-13, 4-7) scored nine of the next 11 points, cutting the Westminster lead to 60-58 with less than a minute left.

With 19 seconds remaining in the game and nine seconds left on the shot clock, Murray hit a driving layup to give the Titans a 62-58 lead before Chauncy Whitlow (Wilson) set the final with a conventional three-point play.

Murray scored 25 points and Hannon added 21 for the Titans, while Mirizio led Thiel with 16 points. Nick Sefcsik and Herrmann added 12 each.