Box Score
WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Dec. 5) – The Waynesburg University men's basketball team got off to a fast start in Wednesday night's matchup with visiting Grove City and looked poised to snatch its first Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) win of the season. Unfortunately, the Wolverines had different ideas, as they out-scored the Yellow Jackets 31-23 in the second half to erase a first-half deficit and score a 55-49 win.
The Jackets (2-5, 0-3) jumped out to an 8-0 lead following the first 4:20 of play. After Grove City (1-5, 1-2) stopped Waynesburg's game-opening run with a three-pointer, the home team responded by not only maintaining its advantage, but building it up to 13 points (24-11) with just over six minutes remaining in the first period.
Unfortunately for the Jackets, Grove City ended the half with momentum clearly on its side, out-scoring Waynesburg 13-2 down the stretch and trailing by just two points (26-24) when the two teams broke for halftime. The Orange and Black opened up the second half with a three-pointer from sophomore point guard
Casey Hope to go back up by five points. That was the largest lead Waynesburg was able to build over the final 20 minutes of play, and thanks to an 8-3 surge by the Wolverines, the game became tied at 32-32 with 14:45 showing on the game clock.
It took almost three minutes before another basket was scored, but with 11:53 remaining, Grove City jumped ahead 34-32 and never allowed the home team to retake the lead. The Jackets were tied the game up at 43-43 with 4:14 left to play, but seven unanswered points gave the Wolverines a lead they never relinquished.
Waynesburg was led by sophomore forward
Jason Propst, who put up 15 points and pulled down a game-high nine rebounds. Sophomore guard
Kenny Klase came off the bench to score 10 points, while reserve forward
Thomas Ellis, added eight rebounds in the loss. Junior guard
E.J. Coleman tied for the game high with four steals.
The two biggest reasons for Grove City's win came at the free throw line and from behind the three-point arc. The Wolverines connected on 21-of-33 foul shots, while the Jackets converted just 10-of-20 attempts. While GCC made just four three-pointers in 14 tries, Waynesburg was able to hit on just one of 18 attempts from long range.
Waynesburg hits the road on Saturday, Dec. 7, to face Geneva in a road PAC game. Tip-off is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.
