Image Credit: Thiel Athletics
By Hannah Stoughton

The matchup against Allegheny College was an unexpected win; after going 0-6, the Tomcats did not have a good start to the season. “We know that we are capable of competing against teams, we just have to be more consistent in showing that,” senior Daquan Simmons said, regarding the team’s win.

The male Cats trailed by a hefty amount in the first half with the Gators having a 19-point lead. This lead expanded in the second half to a 25-point lead before the Cats decided that it was game on. “During halftime we knew we made a lot of mistakes that we shouldn’t have made but we told each other that it was still another half to play so we kept our heads up and stayed positive going into the second half.” Simmons commented. They quickly eroded Allegheny’s lead, soon narrowing it to just 15 points. Then, a 22-6 run hit for Thiel, and they were in the lead with on 2:53 left in the game.

The teams fought vigorously for the lead and ended up tied at 75 points with two minutes left in the game. Then, Simmons and senior Ahmad Tejumola scored a two-pointer and a layup accompanied by a free throw respectively to win the game 80-79.

Despite the win, Simmons knew that there was work to do. “After the game, we were happy to win of course but we knew we shouldn’t have made the game that hard, so we knew that there was more work to be done.” His statement was put to the test on Dec. 1st, where the Tomcats fell short to Geneva College in a conference matchup.

The Cats put 12 points up to match Geneva in the first half, but the faced a devastating 44-14 point run by the Golden Tornadoes. In the last two minutes, the Golden Tornadoes were up by 22, and Thiel hit a 14-2 stride, but it wasn’t enough to put them up top. The Cats fell to Geneva 87-77.

Thiel’s men’s basketball team faces another tough competitor on Dec. 4th with defending-PAC champions, the Westminster Titans, travelling to Beeghly Gymnasium for a conference matchup. The team currently sits 1-7 overall, 0-2 in the conference.