Box Score
BETHANY, W.Va. (Dec. 6) – The Waynesburg men's basketball team gave the defending Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) champions from Bethany all they could handle on Saturday and nearly pulled out a victory against the Bison.
However, a late comeback try came up just short as the Yellow Jackets dropped a 78-76 nail-biter to the home team. After the exciting contest came to a close, both teams' PAC records stands at 1-1. Bethany improves to 5-5 overall, while Waynesburg drops to 3-3.
The Bison went into the locker room following the first half with a 43-40 lead, thanks in large part to a balanced scoring attack that featured six players who scored at least five points. Leading the way was junior forward Joe Testa, who scored 12 points in the first 20 minutes.
Senior guards Dan Happe and Jason Clark kept Waynesburg in it by rolling up 15 and eight points, respectively. Happe was downright deadly from long range as he piled up all of his first-half points on five-of-eight shooting from beyond the three-point arc.
In the second half, Bethany managed to build up an 11-point lead (63-52) halfway through the period, thanks to a jumper by Tyler Morando.
However, the Jackets responded in a big way, ripping off a 9-0 run over the next three minutes. Sophomore forward Jeff Young dropped in a lay up with 7:08 to go in the game to pull Waynesburg within two (63-61).
The two teams battled as the game headed into the final stretch with Bethany holding onto a four-point lead (77-73) with just 11 seconds left in the game.
Six seconds later, Happe got his team back to within one when he nailed his eighth three-pointer on the game to pull Waynesburg to within one (77-76) with just five seconds to go.
The Jackets fouled Morando, who then made one-of-two attempts from the charity stripe to put the Bison up 78-76. A last-second prayer by Happe failed to find the bottom of the hoop.
Happe had his biggest game of the season, racking up a game-high 29 points, 24 of which came on his eight treys. The other five came as Happe made all five of his free throws. Happe also tied Young with a team-best seven rebounds.
Sophomore guard Ryan Courneen added 15 points in the loss, and Clark also reached double digits in scoring with 11.
Testa led four Bethany scorers in double figures with 18, and added a game-best 13 rebounds for a double-double. Senior forward Petre Petkovski added 10 rebounds and nine points on the day.
Waynesburg had a huge advantage from the three-point arc and the free throw line over the Bison. The Yellow Jackets out-shot their opponents from downtown 44 percent to 15 percent, and bested them 86 percent to 65 percent from the free throw line.
The Jacket men will try to get back on the winning track in one week when they return home to host Saint Vincent on Saturday, Dec. 13.
