February 21, 2015

Thiel tops Grove City

GREENVILLE, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's basketball team wrapped up the 2014-15 regular season Saturday afternoon by dropping a 73-60 decision at Thiel in Presidents' Athletic Conference action at Rissell-Beeghly Gymnasia.

Three Grove City players scored in double figures, led by a 15-point outing from senior guard Mitch Marmelstein (San Juan Capistrano, Calif./St. Margaret's). Junior Caleb Knudsen (Saylorsburg, Pa./Pius X) posted a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double and senior guard J.T. Schwartz (Pittsburgh, Pa./Shaler) added 10 points.

Grove City jumped out to an 11-4 lead in the first seven minutes of the half but Thiel (13-12, 9-7) countered with a half-closing 23-9 run that gave the Tomcats a 27-20 halftime lead. Thiel then scored the first five points of the second half and maintained a double-digit lead for much of the second half.

Grove City (9-16, 4-12) shot 36 percent (24 of 67) from the field for the game while Thiel went 21 for 52 (40 percent) for the game. Thiel owned a 42-41 edge in rebounds. Thiel had 15 turnovers while Grove City turned over the ball 16 times.

Luke Kochka led Thiel with 21 points, including 6-for-7 marksmanship on three-point attempts.

Grove City will be the No. 7 seed in next week's conference tournament. The Wolverines visit No. 2 Waynesburg in the quarterfinals Tuesday night at 7 p.m.

Box Score

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-MITCH MARMELSTEIN (2011-Pres.)     1,368
5-John Cochran (1966-70)             1,352
6-Tanner Prosser (1999-2003)         1,263
7-Mark Timko (1991-94)               1,255
8-Fred Schwab (1970-74)              1,215
9-Deron Ryan (1984-88)               1,205
10-Tim Mokma (1987-91)               1,197
11-Bill Fox (1975-79)                1,192
12-Tom Robinson (1957-62)            1,181
13-Mark Smith (1979-83)              1,171
14-Andy O'Keefe (2006-10)            1,164
16-Jim Wherley (1993-97)             1,162
16-Bart Niemeyer (1958-62)           1,145
17-Shawn Carr (2004-08)              1,121
18-Brett Matson (2008-12)            1,108
19-Benjamin Davis (1990-94)          1,094
20-Ryan Gibson (2005-09)             1,079
21-Dave Marovich (1962-65)           1,072
22-Ron Arrington (1962-66)           1,069
23-Ryan Eller (2001-05)              1,068
24-Mike Donahoe (1975-79)            1,051
25-Dan Von Handorf (1992-96)         1,029
26-Dutch Leonard (1955-59)           1,013