PITTSBURGH – Chatham Men's Basketball (19-3, 16-1 PAC) matched their longest win streak in program history with their 11th consecutive victory on Saturday, defeating Thiel (7-14, 6-11) 80-63.
 
Lovenson Xavier had another impressive offensive performance for the Cougars, netting 19 points on 6-8 shooting and adding 5 rebounds. Simon Boyer shot 3-4 from three-point range to reach 13 points. Diaun Pinkett put up 12 points for Chatham with 2 steals. Blaine Gartley was the Cougars' leader in assists with a game high 6, and was the only Cougar to block a Tomcat shot. Zavea Green led Chatham in rebounding with 9 boards and scored 8 points. Noah Adams also tallied 8 points for the Cougars, who shot 47.6% from beyond the arc including 8-10 from distance in the second half.
 
Thiel started the game hot, jumping out to an 11-6 lead in the first six minutes. The teams would trade baskets until a 10-2 Tomcat run gave them a 29-21 advantage with five minutes to play in the first half. 6 points from Xavier and 4 points from Green aided Chatham in a 12-2 run of their own after that point to give them a two-point lead at the break.
 
Boyer drilled two three-pointers in the first two minutes of the second half to push the Cougar advantage to 39-32. Thiel would hang around, however, making their deficit 41-37 before Chatham took the game over offensively. The Cougars scored 17 points in the next five minutes, with six different Cougars contributing to the run with baskets. The ensuing 6-0 run by the Tomcats kept them in the game at 60-44, but three-pointers from Easton Fulmer, Drew Vizenor and Boyer extended Chatham's lead back to 20. Zavea Green threw down a dunk with four minutes to go as an exclamation point on the Cougars' 47-point second half.
 
Rob Thomas led Thiel in scoring with 19 points on 7-16 shooting and blocked 4 Chatham shots. Das Sanders tallied 15 points for the Tomcats. Mike Brown and Marlon Ellerbee each scored 10 points and pulled down 9 boards, with Ellerbee adding a game high 3 steals and 5 assists.
 
The Cougars will next play on Wednesday in Bethany, West Virginia against Bethany College with a 7:30 tip time.