BETHANY, W.Va. - After leading 40-33 at halftime, the Westminster College men's basketball team suffered a season-ending 82-73 loss at Bethany on Tuesday night in the first round of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Tournament.
The No. 6-seeded Titans (7-19) are now eliminated from the tournament, while No. 3 Bethany (18-7) advances to play at No. 2 Thomas More on Thursday night.
Senior forward Ryne Murray (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) led the Titans with 17 points and 11 rebounds. Murray finishes his career as the school's eighth all-time leading scorer with 1,530 career points and the fourth all-time leading rebounder with 783 boards.
Sophomore forward Steve Cress (Mars, Pa./Mars) bucketed a career-high 14 points, including 11 in the first half for Westminster. Sophomore forward Rob Briggs (Saxonburg, Pa./Knoch) also scored 14 points on 7-8 shooting from the field. Freshman center Adam Carswell (Painesville, Ohio/Notre Dame Cathedral Latin) also tossed in 10 points to go with a team-high three blocks.
Ryan McFadden paced the Bison with 22 points, followed by Nick Wilcox and Joe Testa with 17 points apiece. Testa ripped down a team-high nine rebounds.
Westminster shot well from the floor as its 54.5 (30-55) percentage from the floor was its second-highest of the season. Bethany shot 41.3 percent (26-63). The Titans also held a 35-33 rebounds advantage, but Westminster committed 18 turnovers while inducing only six.
The Titans led by as many as 13 points on two occasions in the first half before leading 40-33 at halftime. In the second half, however, Bethany went on a 14-2 run by going from down by 10 (53-43) with 13:04 remaining to leading by two (57-55) less than four minutes later.
Westminster would regain the lead briefly when Murray hit a 3-pointer with 4:08 to play that gave the Titans a 71-70 lead. However, Jay Lyonett hit a back-breaking 3-pointer that put Bethany up 77-71 with 2:25 left on the clock. Westminster never drew within four points for the remainder of the game.
The Titans' final record of 7-19 matches their record from two years ago as the only two single-digit win totals for Westminster since 1975. The Titans, with an all-time winning percentage of .641 and 23 seasons with 20 or more wins, have only three seasons with seven or fewer wins since 1926.
About Westminster College...
Founded in 1852 and related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Westminster College is a top tier liberal arts college and a national leader in graduation rate performance, according to U.S. News Guide to America's Best Colleges. Westminster ranked third among liberal arts colleges in social mobility, according to the Washington Monthly College Guide, and is one of the most affordable national liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania. Westminster is also honored as one of "The Best 371 Colleges" and "Best in the Northeast" by The Princeton Review, and is named to the President's Honor Roll for excellence in service learning.
Nearly 1,600 undergraduate and graduate students benefit from individualized attention from dedicated faculty while choosing from 41 majors and nearly 100 organizations on the New Wilmington, Pa., campus. Visit www.westminster.edu/advantage to view "Advantage: Westminster" A Strategic Plan 2010-2020.
