The Saint Vincent Bearcats rolled to their eighth straight victory, defeating the Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets on the road by a score of 78-61.

SVC's Joey Butler had a career night, scoring 29 points, while teammate Ian McCollough added 16 and BJ McGill 14.  The Bearcats' Mike Medved also had a fine night, scoring 10 points and grabbing 10 rebounds for the double-double.

The Yellow Jackets jumped out to a 7-2 lead in the opening moments, but McCollough scored on three straight possessions to put the Bearcats up 15-11 seven minutes into play.

A three-point play from Medved gave SVC a 26-23 lead with 8:30 until the intermission, and it spurred a torrid finish of the first half for the visitors. 

Waynesburg scored just four points over the final 10 minutes of the first half, recording its last bucket of the half with 4:24 left, and a Butler lay up at the 3:24 mark gave SVC its first double-digit lead of the night at 35-25.   The junior point guard then hit a jumper on SVC's next possession to put SVC up by 12, and he finished the half with a free throw to give the Bearcats a 38-25 halftime lead.

SVC opened the second half with three-pointers from Butler and McGill and a McCollough offensive rebound put back to make the score 46-25 SVC with 17:28 left to play.

Saint Vincent's lead was never less than 13 points over the final 15 minutes, and the Bearcats used a distinct size advantage to generate a number of second chances via offensive rebound down the stretch.  SVC out-rebounded Waynesburg by a wide 38-18 margin for the game, and the Bearcats shot 57 percent (32-57) from the field.

Waynesburg was led by Tim Drakeley, the leading scorer in the Presidents' Athletic Conference, who scored 16 points. Teammate Josh Parisi added 14 points and a team-leading six rebounds.

With the win, the Bearcats (16-3) completed a season sweep of Waynesburg (7-12).  SVC is off to its best start of the season since the 2003-04 squad opened the year 19-3.

SVC will be back in action on Wednesday night, hosting Geneva College at 8pm at the Carey Center. 

PHOTO: SVC's BJ McGill (4) and Mike Medved team up for a blocked shot in the first half of the Bearcats 78-61 win over Waynesburg University