EDINBORO, Pa. (December 30, 2014) – Trailing by three points at 51-48 with just over five minutes to play in the contest, the Edinboro men's basketball team closed the game on a 12-5 run to earn a 60-56 victory over visiting Thiel in a non-conference matchup on Tuesday night at McComb Fieldhouse. The Fighting Scots improved to 6-5 on the season, while the Tomcats dropped to 4-6.

A Khari Bess layup gave Thiel a 51-48 lead with 5:10 remaining in the game, before the Fighting Scots constructed a 6-0 run capped by a Jaymon Mason 3-pointer to give Edinboro its first lead in nearly 10 minutes at 54-51 with 2:03 to play.

Josh Johnson hit one of two free throws on the next Tomcat possession to shrink the Fighting Scots' advantage to 54-52 with 1:41 remaining.

Sam Sealy-James answered with a jumper to put on top by four points at 56-52 at the 1:18 mark in the second half.
 

The two teams traded baskets on each of their next possessions, as the Fighting Scots held a 58-54 advantage with 25 seconds to play after a Henri Wade-Chatman jumper.

Bess would miss a layup on the next Thiel possession, before retrieving his own miss and knocking down a jumper to cut the Edinboro lead to two at 58-56 with just 13 seconds remaining.

After Thiel fouled Mason immediately on the inbound pass, the redshirt freshman connected on a pair of free throws to seal the 60-56 victory for Edinboro.

Wade-Chatman led all scorers with 18 points for the Fighting Scots on 6 of 14 shooting, including 3 of 7 shots from behind the arc. Casey Baker added 11 points, connecting on 4 of 5 field goals, followed by Mason with 10 markers. Baker also tallied a team-high seven rebounds in the win.

Bess paced the Tomcats with 15 points on 7 of 12 shooting on the night and dished out a game-high eight assists. Luke Kochka dropped in 11 points off the bench, while Eric Mallinger scored eight points to go along with a game-high 10 boards.

The game marked the final non-conference contest of the season for Edinboro, and was also the last game of the 2014 portion of the Fighting Scots' schedule.

Thiel knocked down 22 of 48 (45.8 percent) field goals in the game, compared to Edinboro shooting 21 of 56 (37.5 percent ) from the field. The Tomcats dropped in 5 of 12 (41.7 percent) shots from long range, while the Fighting Scots were 5 of 15 (33.3 percent) on 3-pointers.

Edinboro was 13 of 22 (59.1 percent) from the charity stripe. Thiel connected on 7 of 8 (87.5) free throw attempts on the night.

The Fighting Scots edged the Tomcats in the rebounding column 33-32.

Edinboro capitalized on several Thiel miscues, as the Fighting Scots scored 32 points off 23 Tomcat turnovers. Edinboro also tallied 15 steals, while Thiel recorded 11 blocks as a team.

With the Fighting Scots holding a 16-13 lead with 10:21 to play in the first half after a Mason jumper, the Tomcats used a 15-2 run buoyed by a pair of 3-pointers by Kochka to take their largest lead of the game of 10 points at 28-18 with just over six minutes remaining in the opening period.

Edinboro responded with an 8-2 run to close the half fueled by four points by Will Marrow, including a dunk to cut the Thiel advantage to 30-26 at the break.

The Fighting Scots return to action in 2015, with a pair of road matchups against PSAC Eastern Division foes this weekend. Edinboro takes on Kutztown on Saturday, January 3 and Mansfield on Sunday, January 4. Both games are slated to begin at 3 p.m.