Box Score
GROVE CITY, Pa. (Jan. 23) -
Jason Propst scored 15 of his game-high 17 points in the second half as the Waynesburg men's basketball team broke a halftime tie at Grove City College to pull away late for a 69-59 victory on Wednesday night.
With the victory, the Yellow Jackets improved to 3-7 in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) play and 8-11 overall. Grove City dropped to 3-7 in the conference and 6-12 overall.
Riding the momentum from Saturday's upset victory over Bethany, the Yellow Jackets raced out to early leads of 7-0 and 12-4 before Grove City climbed back into the contest over the remainder of the first half.
A layup by sophomore
Byrum Louco at the 13:54 mark gave the Jackets a 12-4 lead, its largest of the first half. Grove City took its first lead (17-15) midway through the period thanks to a three-pointer with 9:31 to play before the break. The teams exchanged the lead three more times before Waynesburg regained the advantage for the remainder of the half. The Jackets pushed their lead back to six points (29-23) when sophomore
Thomas Ellis converted a free throw at the 4:37 mark of the period. Grove City responded by whittling the lead down and eventually tying the contest at 30-30 thanks to two free throws with 28 seconds left in the first half.
The game continued to go back-and-forth for much of the second half. Grove City took an early 32-30 lead with the first hoop of the second half. The teams exchanged the lead three more times before Waynesburg took control again. The Yellow Jackets went on a 9-0 run to make the score 49-40 after the contest was tied at 40 apiece. Five of those points during that run came from freshman
Nate Labishak, including a three pointer at the 11:45 mark.
Grove City countered with a 13-4 run to even the score at 53-53 with just 5:22 remaining. Waynesburg took over from there, pushing its lead back to 59-53. Grove City cut its deficit to just three after making a three-pointer, but Propst had an answer. With the shot clock winding down, the Brighton, Colo. native charged toward the hoop and made a tough off-balance layup that pushed Waynesburg's lead to 61-56. The Jackets then proceeded to convert six-straight free throws that put the road team comfortably ahead 67-56.
Not only did Propst lead all scorers with 17 points, but he also yanked down a game-high 12 rebounds. Junior guard
E.J. Coleman and sophomore forward
Jacob Fleegle added nine points each to the winning effort, while sophomore point guard
Casey Hope chipped in eight points on the night.
Waynesburg finished the night shooting 43.4 percent (23-of-53) from the field. The Jackets also made seven-of-17 three pointers in the contest and held a 34-to-29 advantage on the glass. The Orange and Black was also careful with the basketball, turning it over just 10 times on the evening. Both teams were also efficient at the foul the line as Waynesburg finished 16-for-20 from the stripe (80 percent), while Grove City converted 12-of-14 (85.7 percent) attempts.
The Yellow Jackets will try to make it three-straight PAC victories on Saturday, when they face first-place Thomas More in Crestview Hills, Ky. Tip-off is set for 3:30 p.m.
