Box Score
HIRAM, Ohio (Dec. 15) – The Waynesburg University men's basketball team built up an eight-point halftime lead over home-standing Hiram on Saturday, and looked poised to pick up its third win of the season. Unfortunately, the Yellow Jackets were unable to keep things going their way in the second half, as the Terriers dominated the final 20 minutes of play to come back and score a 74-62 win.
The Jackets (2-7) got off to a hot start and built up a team game-high eight-point lead (41-33) at halftime. Waynesburg opened the game by building an 8-4 lead after three minutes of play. Hiram (2-4) responded by rattling off five-straight points to grab a one-point lead (9-8) with 15:31 still to play in the first half.
The two teams continued to trade the lead over the next nine entertaining minutes. With 6:44 showing on the first half clock, the Yellow Jacket offense caught fire and went on an 8-0 run that turned a 26-27 deficit into a 34-27 Waynesburg lead. The visiting team maintained its advantage for the remainder of the first period and took a 41-33 lead into the locker rom.
Unfortunately, the momentum turned squarely into Hiram's favor in the second half, as the Terriers out-scored the Jackets by 20 points over the final 20 minutes to earn the victory. The Terriers wasted little time in slimming the deficit down to just one by scoring the first seven points of the period. Waynesburg stopped the bleeding with a three-pointer by sophomore point guard
Casey Hope and a two-point basket by sophomore forward
Jason Propst to rebuild a six-point advantage.
The Jackets stayed ahead of the Terriers for the first 10 minutes of the second, but an 11-0 surge from the home team in the middle part of the half turned a seven-point lead for Waynesburg into a four-point edge for Hiram with 8:46 left to play. The visiting team never regained the lead and Hiram slowly, but steadily built its lead to the 74-62 final that proved to be the biggest lead of the game for either squad.
Four different Yellow Jackets scored at least 11 points each in the loss, including Propst, who poured in a team-high 18 points on six-of-10 shooting. The Brighton, Colo. native added seven rebounds to his day. Hope chipped in 12 points of his own, while sophomore forwards
Jacob Fleegle and
Thomas Ellis contributed 11 each. Fleegle pulled down a team-high eight rebounds.
Waynesburg will look to snap out of a five-game losing streak on Tuesday, when the Jackets take off on one of their longest road trips of the season, which takes them to Wells College in Aurora, N.Y. on Tuesday, Dec. 18. Tipoff is scheduled for 2 p.m.
