Box Score
WASHINGTON, Pa. (Jan. 2) – The good news for the Waynesburg University men's basketball team is that they scored at least 79 points for the fourth-straight game during Wednesday night's Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game at Washington & Jefferson. Unfortunately, the Yellow Jacket defense had its worst showing of the season as W&J defeated the Jackets 100-84.
The loss snapped a three-game winning streak for Waynesburg (5-8, 0-5), while the Presidents (4-9, 3-2) broke out of a three-game losing streak.
After W&J opened up the scoring with the game's first field goal, Waynesburg sophomore point guard
Casey Hope gave his team its first lead of the day with a three-pointer. The game remained close through the first 4:16 of action, before the Presidents went on a 22-8 that stretched a 9-8 W&J lead into a 15-point (31-16) advantage for the home team with just under nine minutes to play in the first half.
Waynesburg was able to pull as close as eight points (34-26) with 5:26 showing on the first half clock. Unfortunately, the Jackets were unable to further shrink the deficit before going into halftime on the short end of a 51-36 score. Things didn't get much better during the second 20 minutes of action, as the Presidents built up leads as large as 25 points on multiple occasions as the game wound down to its final score.
The visiting team certainly ran into W&J on the wrong night, as the Red and Black shot a season-high 61 percent from the floor and 43 percent from three point range on the night. The Jackets shot 37 percent from the floor, but were more potent from long range, knocking down 46 percent of their attempts from downtown.
Waynesburg received a team-high 16 points from Hope. Sophomore forward
Jacob Fleegle chipped in 13 points on the night, while freshman guard
B.J. Durham came off the bench to add 12 points. Junior guard
E.J. Coleman contributed 11 points of his own in the losing effort, while sophomore forward
Thomas Ellis, went for eight points and a team-high eight rebounds.
The Jackets return to action on Saturday, Jan .5, when they play host to PAC rival Westminster. Tipoff is scheduled for 9 p.m.
