The Presidents (8-17, 5-5 PAC), who have won three of their past five contests, finish the regular season with their most victories in five years. The 1999-2000 Presidents ended the season with a record of 10-13 overall. The No. 3 seed is also the highest showing by a W&J squad in PAC Tournament history.
The Tomcats (7-18, 3-7 PAC) quickly raced to a 6-0 lead, but the Presidents scored seven unanswered points, five of which came from freshman guard Tyler Trutza (Bay Village, Ohio/Bay).
W&J opened a 23-17 lead at the 11:34 mark after a jumper by freshman reserve center Tony Lewis (Mayfield Heights, Ohio/Orange) and sophomore guard Brandon Studer’s (Johnstown, Pa./Conemaugh Valley) three-pointer four minutes later pushed the W&J advantage to 36-25.
The Tomcats brought the deficit to eight points (48-40) at halftime and then scored the first five points of the second half to trim the lead to 48-45.
Washington & Jefferson responded with a 15-3 run over a six-minute span to take control of the contest. Sophomore guard Jon Koch (New Kensington, Pa./Plum) scored 10 points during the run which brought the Presidents’ lead to 63-48 with 13:09 remaining.
The Tomcats chipped away at the W&J advantage and eventually closed to within one point (71-70) after a Daryl Moore jumper at the 1:20 mark.
Koch’s lay-up 14 seconds later made it a 73-70 game and Thiel misfired on all five of its shot attempts in the final minute as W&J held on for the victory.
Studer poured in a game-high 22 points on 9-of-11 shooting to lead the Presidents. He also added four rebounds and three assists. Koch finished with 18 points and four boards, while Trutza added 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and three steals. The Presidents shot 46 percent (25-of-54).
Moore led the Tomcats with 20 points and seven assists, while Joe Herrmann notched a double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Thiel shot 48 percent (29-of-61), but made only 9-of-19 from the free throw line.
Washington & Jefferson will host sixth-seeded Waynesburg on Tuesday evening at 7:30 pm in a first-round PAC Tournament game. The two squads split a pair of games this season with the road team winning both games.