Donahue, who was held scoreless prior to his buzzer beater, answered a three by Thiel freshman forward Joe Herrmann that tied the game at 72-72 with five seconds to play.
The Tomcats (4-9) had three players finish in double figures. Senior guard Daryl Moore and junior guard C.J. Hunt each had 13 points in defeat while junior forward Stephen Laird added 10.
Sophomore Taha Alassari had a game-high 21 points and six assists to lead the Blue Devils (5-5). Freshman Kyle Gordon finished with 19 points on nine-of-nine shooting while sophomore Mike Kelly chipped in with 15 points, hitting four-of-11 three-point attempts. Junior Tim Anderson totaled a game-high 16 rebounds to go with his 11 points in the win.
Fredonia State took an early 13-4 lead on an Alassari lay up with 14:12 to go in the first half. The Tomcats strung together an 11-2 run over the next 3:49 to tie the game at 15-15 at the 10:23 mark. Thiel went into the locker room holding on to a 34-33 lead.
Thiel began the second half red hot, outscoring the Blue Devils 21-10 over the opening 8:43 to stretch its lead to 12 (55-43) at the 11:17 mark of the second period.
A Kelly three pushed Fredonia State back in front by one (62-61) with 5:40 remaining. Anderson's tip in stretched the lead to three (70-67) with 1:47 to play before Moore cut the lead to one (70-69) with his lay up with just over one minute to go.
Alassari stroked a pair of free throws to bump the lead back to three (72-69) with 12 seconds to go before Herrmann's three tied it up.
Fredonia State shot 46.6 percent (27-58) from the floor and finished with a 40-35 advantage on the glass. Thiel made 42.6 percent (26-61) of its attempts, connecting on seven-of-18 three-point attempts.
The Tomcats will return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 11 when they host Case Western Reserve University. Tip off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
Newspaper Box Score Fredonia State vs Thiel College (Pa.) 1-8-05 3 p.m. at Greenville, Pa. - Rissell Beeghly Gym At Greenville, Pa. - Rissell Beeghly Gym FREDONIA STATE 75, THIEL COLLEGE (PA.) 72 FREDONIA STATE (5-5) ALASSARI, Taha 6-16 7-8 21; GORDON, Kyle 9-9 1-3 19; KELLY, Mike 5-12 1-2 15; ANDERSON, Tim 4-9 2-4 11; MOSLEY, Gary 1-1 2-5 4; DONAHUE, Chris 1-6 0-0 3; KENSY, Chris 1-2 0-0 2; SMITH, Adam 0-0 0-0 0; REICHLMAYR, Kevin 0-0 0-0 0; WATKINS, Devin 0-2 0-0 0; RUBE, Chris 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 27-58 13-22 75. THIEL COLLEGE (PA.) (4-9) Daryl Moore 5-12 2-2 13; CJ Hunt 3-8 5-6 13; Stephen Laird 3-8 3-3 10; Nick Mihalik 4-5 1-3 9; Damien Williams 3-6 1-2 8; Percy Sweeting 2-5 0-0 4; Ross Watson 2-5 0-3 4; Joe Herrmann 1-3 0-0 3; Henry Passerrello 1-4 1-3 3; Brad Bowman 1-3 0-0 3; Max Slater 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 26-61 13-22 72. Fredonia State................ 33 42 - 75 Thiel College (Pa.)........... 34 38 - 72 3-point goals-Fredonia State 8-27 (KELLY, Mike 4-11; ALASSARI, Taha 2-7; ANDERSON, Tim 1-2; DONAHUE, Chris 1-5; WATKINS, Devin 0-1; RUBE, Chris 0-1), Thiel College (Pa.) 7-18 (CJ Hunt 2-3; Stephen Laird 1-2; Daryl Moore 1-4; Damien Williams 1-3; Joe Herrmann 1-3; Brad Bowman 1-1; Henry Passerrello 0-1; Ross Watson 0-1). Fouled out--Fredonia State-None, Thiel College (Pa.)-None. Rebounds-Fredonia State 40 (ANDERSON, Tim 16), Thiel College (Pa.) 35 (Daryl Moore 6). Assists-Fredonia State 15 (ALASSARI, Taha 6), Thiel College (Pa.) 14 (Daryl Moore 5). Total fouls-Fredonia State 19, Thiel College (Pa.) 17. A-294