PITTSBURGH, Pa. – Chatham Men's Basketball (18-7, 12-4 PAC) showed their strength in the second half of Tuesday night's PAC Quarterfinal, defeating #3 Grove City (11-15, 8-8) 69-60 to advance to the semifinal round in front of a packed Athletic and Fitness Center.
 
Senior Diaun Pinkett played all but one minute of the Cougars' eleventh consecutive home victory, scoring a game-high 16 points along with 8 rebounds, 8 assists and a season-high 7 steals. Senior Jake TenBerge had 13 points and 6 rebounds while knocking down 3 triples for Chatham. Graduate student Zach Genther shot a perfect 4-4 from the field and 2-2 from deep to finish with 12 points. Junior Drew Vizenor contributed 11 points on 5-9 shooting with 3 assists. Senior Donovan Callahan boosted the Cougars with 9 points on 3-5 shooting off the bench, and senior Lovenson Xavier netted 8 points with 11 boards and 3 assists for Chatham.
 
The Cougars led the game 7-2 early, but a 13-0 Wolverines run over the next four minutes put them in control for the rest of the first half. TenBerge knocked down three three-point baskets to get Chatham within 23-20 with six minutes until halftime, but a 7-0 Grove City scoring run would give the Wolverines a 31-22 advantage. Pinkett's layup just before the buzzer sounded would cut the Cougars' deficit to 7.
 
Grove City continued to put pressure on Chatham in the first four minutes of the second half by knocking down a couple of three-pointers to take a 44-33 lead. A Genther triple began the Cougars' comeback, and a 9-0 run would make the score 44-42 Wolverines with 12 minutes remaining. Chatham would extend its run to 20-4 to take a 5-point advantage with eight minutes left on a Xavier layup. The Cougars would allow just two field goals in the final nine minutes of the game, and Callahan's huge dunk with 18 seconds to play put the Cougars up 65-58. Pinkett and Xavier would make their free throws to close out the comeback victory.
 
Chatham shot 41.3 percent (26-63) from the field, but just 24 percent (6-25) from beyond the arc. The Cougars held Grove City to 36.2 percent shooting for the contest (21-58), including 28.6 percent (8-28) in the second half and 16.7 percent (3-18) from three-point range, tying the lowest percentage by a Chatham opponent this season.
 
In the PAC Semifinal round, Men's Basketball will visit Westminster, the number one seed out of the PAC North division, on Thursday at 7 p.m.