Box Score
WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Feb. 18) – The Waynesburg University men's basketball team looked prime to secure a victory in front of its home crowd on Saturday as Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) rival Washington & Jefferson came to town for senior day. After building up a 29-24 halftime lead, the Yellow Jackets were unable to seal the deal as the Presidents came roaring back to take a 68-59 victory.
The Jackets (4-21, 1-15) shot a respectable 45.8 percent (11-of-24) in the first half, while holding W&J (8-17, 4-12) to just 34.8 percent (eight-of-23) from the floor. Waynesburg led by as many as seven points (29-22) in the opening period before taking its five-point lead into the locker room.
Unfortunately, after senior
Lou Galante nailed a three-pointer to put his team up seven, W&J went on an 8-0 run that stretched from the first period to the second and gave the visitors a 30-29 lead early in the half. Waynesburg regained the lead on a layup by freshman
Jason Propst, but the Presidents rebounded with four-straight points to go up 34-31.
W&J never trailed from that point on and put together a 48-36 lead with nine minutes left to play. Waynesburg showed some fight down the stretch of its regular season finale by going on a 9-0 spurt that pulled the home team to within three points (48-45) with just over six minutes to play. However, the Presidents put the game out of reach by scoring the next eight points to take a 56-45 lead with just over three minutes to play. The home team managed to get as close as five points on multiple occasions, but couldn't complete the comeback.
Two of Waynesburg's seven senior day honorees, Galante and point guard
Ben Altmeyer, racked up team-high scoring totals of 11 points each. Propst and senior guard
Larry Alexander added nine points each, while seniors
Luke Baker and
James Allenby tied for the team lead with six rebounds each. Altmeyer added a game-high four assists during his final game at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse.
The major reason for W&J's win was its proficiency at the free throw line. While the Presidents nailed down 22-of-26 tries from the charity stripe, the Jackets made just 10-of-15 from the foul line.
Waynesburg will need to recover quickly from Saturday's loss as they will take part in a play-in game for the 2011-12 PAC men's basketball championship tournament on Monday. The Jackets will travel to Westminster, Geneva or Washington & Jefferson on Monday night. Tip-off time will be announced soon.
