January 27, 2010
Defense carries Grove City to win
GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's basketball team remained atop the Presidents' Athletic Conference Wednesday night by earning a 62-49 victory over visiting Washington & Jefferson in conference action at the Grove City College Arena. It is Grove City's fourth straight win.
The Wolverines (12-7, 6-2 PAC) limited W&J (8-11, 4-3 PAC) to a 6-for-32 (19 percent) shooting effort in the second half. Conversely, Grove City shot 51 percent (14 of 27) from the floor in the second half.
Senior center Andy O'Keefe (Perry, Ohio/Perry) poured in 20 points on 8-of-8 shooting for the Wolverines while junior forward Luke Tomaselli (Cresson, Pa./Penn Cambria) added 15 points. Sophomore guard Brett Matson (Wexford, Pa./Pine-Richland) tossed in 10 points and also distributed seven assists and senior guard Joe McCoy (Newark, Ohio/Newark) pumped in 10 points, including a pair of three-point goals.
Grove City led 29-28 at halftime and led 33-31 with 16 minutes left. The Wolverines held W&J to just one field goal over the next 10 minutes while breaking the game open. O'Keefe highlighted an 8-0 run with a pair of layups to help the Wolverines extend the lead to 48-37 with 6:26 left.
W&J trimmed the lead to 48-41 on buckets from R.J. Pilato and Albert Varacallo but two O'Keefe baskets pushed the lead back to double-digits. The Wolverines maintained their double-digit lead over the final four minutes of the game.
The first half featured six ties before Grove City took the lead for good in the final minute on a pair of Tomaselli foul shots. Tomaselli scored eight of his 15 points in the first half.
Grove City shot 24 of 54 (44 percent) for the game while W&J converted 15 of 53 (28 percent). Each team had 11 turnovers.
O'Keefe pulled in a game-high eight rebounds, helping the Wolverines own a 39-30 edge on the glass. Tomaselli and senior guard Andrew DiDonato (Bridgeville, Pa./South Fayette) both had seven rebounds.
Albert Varacallo led W&J with 16 points. Grove City has held five straight visiting teams to 54 points or less.
Grove City will host Waynesburg Saturday at 3 p.m. on Hall of Fame Day in the Grove City College Arena.
GROVE CITY'S 1,000-POINT CLUB
1-Jeff Claypool (1965-69)
2,234
2-Bob Crow (1979-83) 1,450
3-Joe Buckley (1985-89) 1,413
4-John Cochran (1966-70) 1,352
5-Tanner Prosser (1999-2003) 1,263
6-Mark Timko (1991-94) 1,255
7-Fred Schwab (1970-74) 1,215
8-Deron Ryan (1984-88) 1,205
9-Tim Mokma (1987-91) 1,197
10-Bill Fox (1975-79) 1,192
11-Tom Robinson (1957-62) 1,181
12-Mark Smith (1979-83) 1,171
13-Jim Wherley (1993-97) 1,162
14-Bart Niemeyer (1958-62) 1,145
15-Shawn Carr (2004-08) 1,121
16-Benjamin Davis (1990-94) 1,094
17-Ryan Gibson (2005-09) 1,079
18-Dave Marovich (1962-65) 1,072
19-Ron Arrington (1962-66) 1,069
20-Ryan Eller (2001-05) 1,068
21-Mike Donahoe (1975-79) 1,051
22-Dan Von Handorf (1992-96) 1,029
23-ANDY O'KEEFE (2006-) 1,020
24-Dutch Leonard (1955-59) 1,013
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