Box Score

LATROBE, Pa. (Feb. 13) – Playing without sophomore forward Jason Propst, its top scorer and top rebounder, the Waynesburg University men's basketball team hung right with first-place Saint Vincent before falling 67-59 Wednesday night at the Carey Center.
 
With the loss, Waynesburg concludes the regular season at 9-16 overall and 4-12 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC). Saint Vincent improves to 19-5 overall and 14-1 in the conference. The Bearcats can clinch the top seed in the PAC Tournament with a win Saturday at home against Thomas More.
 
Despite not holding a lead in the first half, the Jackets stuck with the Cats for the first 20 minutes, before going into halftime trailing 29-23. Waynesburg tied the contest on three different occasions in the first half, with the last coming when sophomore Jacob Fleegle made a jump shot to knot the game up 8-8 with 12:30 showing on the first half clock.
 
Saint Vincent built up its lead to 10 points (26-16) at the 2:53 mark, before Waynesburg closed the half on a 7-3 run. The Jackets made just six field goals in the first half, but stayed in the game with a 10-for-13 performance at the line over the first 20 minutes of action.
 
It looked as though the Bearcats were ready to pull away in the second half, leading by as many as 11 with 14:44 remaining in the contest. Waynesburg hung tough and cut the lead to four points with a three-point play by sophomore Thomas Ellis at the 8:14 mark in the second period. The Orange and Black pulled to within two points (53-51) of the Cats at the 5:11 mark on a three-pointer by sophomore guard Kenny Klase. Unfortunately, the visitors were unable to complete the comeback as SVC pulled away to seal up the victory.
 
Ellis led Waynesburg with a team-best 16 points. Freshmen Nate Labishak and B.J, Durham rounded out the trio of double-digit scorers with 12 and 10 points, respectively. Sophomore forward Jacob Fleegle led the Jackets on the glass with six rebounds.
 
Waynesburg shot a respectable 38.2 percent (21-for-55) for the contest, including a 48 percent showing (15-of-31) in the second half. The Jackets continued their recent hot shooting at the free throw line by connecting on 14-of-20 (70 percent) of attempts from the stripe. Saint Vincent held a sizeable advantage on the glass, out-rebounding its opposition 45-31. Both teams did a respectable job of holding onto the basketball with 14 turnovers each.
 
Waynesburg must now wait to learn its fate for next week's PAC Tournament. Complete brackets for the upcoming conference championships will be released on www.pacathletics.org and www.waynesburgsports.com.