January 27, 2016

Rally falls short

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's basketball team dropped to 7-4 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference Wednesday night by falling to visiting Thomas More, 64-56, in the Grove City College Arena.

Grove City trailed by as many as 16 points in the second half before charging back. The Wolverines closed to within four, 60-56, on a three-pointer by senior guard Stephen Tam (Hamilton, Mass./Hamilton-Wenham) with 54 seconds left. However, Thomas More's Damion King followed with a jumper that pushed the lead back to six.

Sophomore center Cory Huff (Kersey, Pa./Elk County Catholic) paced Grove City with 14 points while senior guard Joe Vermilya (Sylvania, Ohio/Southview) added 10 points. Sophomore forward Andrew Beckman (Shelby, Mich./Shelby) added eight points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

Defensively, Grove City held Thomas More (11-7, 8-3 PAC) to 21 of 56 (38 percent) shooting from the field for the game. The Wolverines also owned a 44-36 edge in rebounds. Vermilya and Tam both had seven rebounds. Vermilya also had seven assists.

Grove City finished the game 19 of 52 (37 percent) from the floor. The Wolverines turned over the ball 18 times while Thomas More had 11 turnovers.

Simon Clifford led Thomas More with 15 points. Thomas More led 29-20 at halftime.

Grove City (12-6, 7-4 PAC) will visit Waynesburg for a conference game Saturday at 3:30 p.m.

Box Score