Box Score
WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Dec. 12) – The Waynesburg men's basketball team built up a 34-31 halftime lead against Grove City and appeared poised to pick up their first win of the 2009-10 season.
Unfortunately, the Yellow Jackets couldn't find the same success in the second half, as they dropped a 76-59 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) matchup to the Wolverines at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse on Saturday.
The loss dropped Waynesburg to 0-7 on the year and 0-2 in PAC play. Grove City evened their overall record to 4-4 and is now 2-1 in conference action.
After GCC jumped out to a 5-0 lead, Waynesburg responded with a 13-0 run to take a 13-5 lead five minutes into the game. Senior guard Ryan Courneen scored six points during the run, while freshman Ben Altmeyer contributed four points to the scoring streak.
The eight-point advantage was the largest that the Jackets enjoyed on the day, but they maintained their lead throughout most of the half, with the exception of roughly five minutes in the middle of the period.
After the two teams emerged from their respective locker rooms to get the second half underway, they battled back-and-forth over the first 10 minutes of the half and the contest was tied 50-50 with 10:21 to go in the game.
However, GCC went on a 16-2 run over the next six minutes to take a 66-52 lead and effectively put the game away with just over four minutes left in the contest.
Though it came in a losing effort, Altmeyer turned in the top performance of his young college career. He just missed out on a double-double after setting team highs in points (18) and nine rebounds. He also dished out three assists. Courneen reached double digits in scoring with 14 points.
Grove City featured four players in double digits, led by center Andy O'Keefe, who put together a double-double effort with a game-high 21 points and a contest-best 10 rebounds.
While both teams connected on 22 shots from the field, the Wolverines held huge advantages in both rebounding and free throw shooting. GCC out-rebounded Waynesburg 41-to-26 and connected on 27-of-30 attempts from the charity stripe, while the Jackets could only scrape together six made free throws out of 11 tries.
The Jackets will take another shot at their first win of the season on Saturday, Dec. 19, when they travel to Penn State Fayette, the Eberly Campus for a 1:30 p.m. contest.
