February 3, 2016

Balanced attack leads Wolverines in rout of Westminster

GROVE CITY, Pa. -- Sophomore forward Andrew Beckman (Shelby, Mich./Shelby) poured in a career-high 18 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and six total Wolverines reached double figures for the first time in 13 seasons as the Grove City College men's basketball team improved to 13-7 overall and 8-5 in Presidents' Athletic Conference play with a 96-74 rout of Westminster on Wednesday night in the Grove City College Arena.

Senior guard Joe Vermilya (Sylvania, Ohio/Southview) hit five threes as part of his 16 points while fellow senior guard Stephen Tam (Hamilton, Mass./Hamilton-Wenham) added 13 points, five rebounds and a game-high seven assists. Senior forward Caleb Knudsen (Saylorsburg, Pa./Pius X) added 12 points, seven rebounds and six assists while sophomore center (Kersey, Pa./Elk County Catholic) scored 10 and junior forward Tyler McGrath (Pottstown, Pa./Owen J. Roberts) added 10 off the bench.

Grove City never trailed, jumping out to an early 10-3 lead on the Titans (5-15, 5-8 PAC). Westminster would keep the game close for much of the first half, closing within a single point at 30-29 on a Paolo DePasquale jumper with 4:13 remaining, but Vermilya would hit a pair of threes and Tam and McGrath each hit one as part of a 12-4 Wolverine run to push the lead to 42-33 with 1:30 remaining. The Titans would once again close the gap to four in the final minute, but Vermilya drained his fourth three of the half with four seconds remaining to send Grove City into the locker room with a 45-38 advantage.

Vermilya led the Wolverines with 12 first-half points while McGrath scored all of his 10 before the break. Brandon Domenick had 15 at the break for Westminster to lead all scorers.

The Titans would continue to hang around early in the second half, trailing just 56-50 after an Austin Armwood jumper with 15:37 remaining. Grove City, however, would follow with a 23-6 run spanning nearly seven minutes to put the game out of reach. The Wolverines led by as much as 24 during the second half.

For the game, Grove City outrebounded Westminster 42-33. The Wolverines made a season-high 12 threes in the win and dished a season-high 23 assists.

Grove City last had six players reach double-figures in the same game on November 22, 2002 in an 87-84 victory over Allegheny in the West Penn Classic at Washington & Jefferson.

The Wolverines will host Geneva in conference play on Saturday at 3 p.m. in conjunction with the College's Athletic Hall of Fame festivities. The 2016 Hall of Fame Class will be introduced at halftime of that game.

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