Box Score
GREENVILLE, Pa. (Feb. 6) – After playing a very competitive first half and holding a one-point advantage at the break, it appeared the Waynesburg University men's basketball team was poised to pull out a big conference victory Wednesday evening at Thiel. Unfortunately, the Tomcats found some timely offense and held the Yellow Jackets at bay to pull away for a 63-51 victory at Beeghly Gymnasium in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) action.
With the loss, Waynesburg drops to 4-10 in PAC play and 9-14 overall. Thiel improved to 9-5 in the conference and 12-8 overall.
The two teams battled back-and-forth through a competitive, but low scoring first half. The action included eight lead changes and four ties. Waynesburg built its biggest lead by going on a 12-4 run to take a 27-20 lead after sophomore forward
Thomas Ellis completed a three-point play the old fashioned way with 1:51 to play in the half. However, Thiel responded with the final six points of the half to narrow the gap to 27-26.
The home team clamped down in the second half and quelled any hope of a Jacket upset. After sophomore
Kenny Klase knocked down a three-pointer to make it 30-26 Waynesburg at the 18:03 mark of the second period, the Jackets allowed Thiel to score 15 unanswered points in less than six minutes to take a 41-30 lead with 12:45 left in the ball game. Senior guard Lavance Turnage Jr. finally stopped the run with a free throw, before sophomore forward
Jason Propst made a field goal to cut the Tomcats' lead to 41-33 at the 11:26 mark.
That was as close as Waynesburg would get to completing the comeback, as Thiel used another run of six unanswered points to surge to its largest lead of the night at 47-33. The Jackets cut the deficit back to 10 points, but the Cats had another answer, scoring five-straight points to build a 15-point lead (56-41) with 3:47 to play and eventually closing out the win.
Propst led Waynesburg with a team-best 13 points. Ellis added 11 points for the visitors, while sophomore forward
Jacob Fleegle had a team-high seven rebounds in defeat.
The Jackets shot just 26 percent (18-of-68) from the field in the loss and had trouble finding their rhythm from three-point range, making four-of-15 (27 percent) attempts from downtown. Waynesburg had better luck from the foul line, as was evident by a 11-of-14 (79 percent) performance from the charity stripe. Thiel shot 40 percent from the field and knocked down five-of-13 three pointers (38 percent). The Tomcats also won the rebounding battle 50-to-35.
The Jackets will try to bounce back from the loss, when they travel to face Westminster on Saturday afternoon. Tip-off is set for 4 p.m. in New Wilmington, Pa. Waynesburg won the first meeting with the Titans earlier this year 74-61.
