LATROBE, Pa.-The Immaculata men's basketball team returned to action on Saturday evening in the opening game of the Catholic Basketball Invitational hosted by Saint Vincent College opposite the host Bearcats. Despite holding a lead with under two minutes to play in regulation, Immaculata fell to its hosts by a final of 78-71 on Saturday evening.
In the first half, Immaculata jumped out to a 15-10 lead with 14:18 to play in the first half. Saint Vincent answered with a run of its own to take its second lead of the game (with its first lead of the game coming following the first basket of the contest) at 19-18 with 11:34 to play in the half.
From this point, Immaculata rebounded with a 10-3 run to claim a 28-22, which would be its largest lead of the first half. The two teams traded baskets throughout the balance of the half, but it was a late run by Saint Vincent, which gave the host Bearcats a 35-33 lead heading to the halftime break.
In the first half of play,
Jordan Ambrose led all scorers with 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting including an impressive 3-of-5 shooting performance from beyond the arc.
Out of the halftime break, Immaculata opened with a 10-3 run to claim a 43-38 lead before Saint Vincent answered back with a jumper in the lane to trim the deficit to 43-40 with 15:41 to play in the game. Saint Vincent used this jumper to start a 17-3 run over the next three minutes to secure a 55-46 with just under 12 minutes to play, which was also the host Bobcats largest lead of the game. Immaculata answered back with a 15-6 run to even the score at 61-61 with 7:26 to play in regulation.
The two sides traded baskets for much of the remainder of the contest before a late charge by Saint Vincent in the final 1:30 of regulation gave the host Bearcats the 78-71 victory over the Macs on Saturday evening.
Despite the setback, Immaculata ended the game with four players in double figures led by 19 from Ambrose while
Asa Kitchen added 15 and
Tyler Tillery dropped in 13 points of his own.
Steven Dao came away with 11 points while
Brandon McCullough rounded out the Immaculata contingent with 10 points of his own. Tillery and Dao each recorded double doubles as the two tied for the team-high in rebounding 10 rebounds apiece.
As a team, Immaculata shot 46.8 % from the field and 29.4 % from beyond the arc. Immaculata also shot 72.7 % from the free-throw line in the setback.
David Stephen led the way for Saint Vincent pouring in 26 points on 10-of-15 shooting from the field including a 4-of-5 performance from beyond the arc while also coming away with nine rebounds and a pair of assists.
Following the setback, Immaculata will need to rebound quickly as the Macs will return to action tomorrow afternoon at 1 p.m. vs Misericordia who fell to Catholic in the other semifinal earlier this afternoon by a final of 75-61.
