FAIRMONT - Wheeling Jesuit used an aggressive defense and efficient offense to take an 89-69 victory against Fairmont State on Saturday afternoon in men's college basketball action at Joe Retton Arena.
Wheeling Jesuit (16-7, 12-5 WVIAC) was led by 26 points from Recardo Gaddy, with 24 of those coming in the first half. Steve Catich contributed 22 points for the Cardinals, and Ben Siefert added five points, nine rebounds and six assists in the victory.
Fairmont State (7-15, 5-13) suffered its fourth-straight loss despite 30 points from Isaac Thornton. Steve Custis added 14 points and Shayne Murray added 11 off the bench for the Falcons.
WJU hit 31-of-53 of its shots from the field (59 percent) and hit 14 of its 29 3-point attempts (48 percent). Fairmont State shot just 37 percent from the field. The Falcons could not take advantage of its 16 offensive rebounds or its 35-31 overall advantage on the glass.
Bethany 70, Thiel 67
GREENVILLE, Pa. - Bethany trailed by as many as 13 in the second half, but came all the way back to pull out a victory at Thiel to take over sole possession of first place in the PAC.
The Bison (20-3, 12-2 PAC) were forced to rally from the start of the game, as Chace McKinney scored seven during the Tomcats' (15-7, 12-3) 13-2 spurt to open the contest. It was a 24-14 Thiel advantage when the Bison made their biggest run of the half. Consecutive lay-ups by junior Brady Pacific capped a 13-6 surge to trim the hosts' lead to 30-27 with 6:38 to go before halftime.
Thiel answered back with a 16-6 run to close the opening stanza and carry a 46-33 lead into halftime.
Women
Fairmont State 80
Wheeling Jesuit 54
FAIRMONT - Fairmont State picked up its fifth-straight victory with a triumph against Wheeling Jesuit.
The Falcons moved their record to 15-7 overall and 12-6 in the WVIAC. The Cardinals slipped to 4-17 overall and 1-16 in the WVIAC.
Wheeling Jesuit was led by 20 points from Cassy Sanderson. Lucy DeFruscio added 13 points for the Cardinals.
Bethany 91
Thiel 87 OT
BETHANY - After two halves filled with seven tied scores and nine lead changes, the Bethany College women's basketball team triumphed against Thiel in overtime, a victory that also featured senior Anne Wilson scoring her 1,000th career point.
As a team, Bethany shot 83 percent (24-29) from the line.
Bethany, now 14-9 and 10-6 in the PAC, is one win away from sealing their fourth place mark in the league standings and a first round home game in the PAC Tournament. BC will return home to host Westminster Wednesday evening for their final home game during the regular season and the program will honor its five seniors prior to tip-off, which is scheduled for 6 p.m.