Men's Basketball: Titans Win First PAC Game of the Season

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - The Westminster College men's basketball team won its first Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game of the season after a 78-68 victory over Geneva College inside Buzz Ridl Gymnasium on Saturday. The Titans snapped a five-game losing streak and improved to 5-10 overall and 1-6 in the conference, while the Golden Tornadoes dropped to 1-14 overall and 1-6 in the league.


Westminster, with a 9-7 lead at the 16:14 mark in the first half, orchestrated a 6-0 run to lead 15-7 with 14:04 on the clock. Geneva, down 24-15 with 9:08 remaining in the half, finished the half with a 16-6 run to lead 31-30 at intermission.


The Titans, leading 48-44 at the 11:04 mark in the second half, took their largest lead of the game, 57-44, after a 9-0 run which was capped off from a layup from freshman Paul Carswell (Painesville, OH / Notre Dame Cathedral Latin) with nine minutes remaining in regulation.


Senior Doug Smith (South Park, PA / South Park) scored a game-high 20 points (6-for-14), followed by junior Anthony Thomas (New Castle, PA / Union) with 19 points (7-for-16). Also scoring in double digits for the Titans was Carswell with 17 points (6-for-10). Seniors Ron Martino (Youngstown, OH / Cardinal Mooney) and Adam Carswell (Painesville, OH / Notre Dame Cathedral Latin) and sophomore Mark Hockenberry (Hanover, PA / South Western) ­contributed with nine, seven and six points, respectively. Adam Carswell had a game-high 11 rebounds, along with a team-high two blocks. Hockenberry added nine rebounds. Thomas dished-out a game- and season-high six assists.  

Westminster will look to make it two-straight wins when it hosts Grove City on Wednesday at 8 p.m.