PITTSBURGH, PA. – The Villa Maria College men's basketball cruised to a victor on Monday, when they hit the road to play Carlow University. Despite a close first half, the Vikings ran away with the game in the second frame and secured a 76-60 win to push their record back up to .500. Villa now sits at 2-2 on the season, while the Celtics fall to 0-2.
Dorion Ivey got the scoring started for Villa, hitting back-to-back three pointers to keep the team within one point.
Jeru Molson followed with a three of his own to put the unit up for the first time at the 15:18 mark. The game continued on with a host of tie's and lead changes before
Daniel Thompson hit consecutive jump shots to secure a lead that the Vikings did not surrender the rest of the game. The largest lead of the half came in the final bucket, when Molson made a jump shot in the paint, the team led 30-21 going into the break.
Once the second-half began, the Vikings slowly increased their lead, point by point. Ivey pushed the advantage to double digits when the knocked down a free-throw to start play. After some push back from the opposition,
Juwan Beale hit a bucket to make the lead 12. A few moments later,
Trayvon Holt added a jump shot of his own to make the score 41-27 at the 15:36 mark. Thompson made his presence known when he extended the lead to 22 points after hitting back-to-back jumpers again, but he wasn't done there. The next two possessions, Thompson converted two free-throws and added another three to pull the Vikings ahead 59-34. Despite a late run by the Celtics, Villa came away with a convincing 76-60 win.
Thompson was impressive off the bench as he showed his ability to be instant offense, scoring 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting in just 14 minutes of play.
Derick Simpson was the second highest scoring, collecting 13 points to go along with nine rebounds. Beale was tough on the boards too, recording ten rebounds, while also scoring seven point. Molson did a little bit of everything, scoring seven points, grabbing seven rebounds, while also distributing with six assists.
The Vikings return home on Saturday, Nov. 16 when they host Penn State – Greater Alleghany at 4 p.m. in the Athletic Center.
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