Box Score
WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Feb. 12) – It wasn't always pretty, but the Waynesburg University men's basketball team picked up its third-straight on Wednesday by beating Thiel 62-59 at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse. The victory kept the Yellow Jackets in a tie for fourth place in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) standings.
Things started very slowly for the Jackets (12-11, 7-7), who failed to score a field goal over the first 7:34 of play. The Tomcats (8-12, 5-9) took advantage of the host team's early offensive woes and jumped out to an 8-1 lead over the first seven-plus minutes of action.
Junior
Tyler Miller finally ended his team's long scoring drought with a layup that trimmed Thiel's lead to 8-3. Waynesburg continued to whittle away at Thiel's advantage, until back-to-back layups by junior forward
Jason Propst and senior guard
E.J. Coleman, the latter coming at the 6:44 mark of the first period, put the Jackets ahead 16-15. The Tomcats regained the lead three minutes later (20-19), but the Orange and Black ended the first half by scoring nine of the final 14 points of the period to grab a 29-24 halftime lead.
The Cats regained the lead (34-29) by opening the second period on a 10-0 run that took just over four minutes to accomplish. Waynesburg erased the five-point Thiel lead on a three-pointer by sophomore guard
B.J. Durham and a Miller layup that knotted the score up at 34-34.
The visitors regained the lead on the next basket scored and extended it to as many as six points (50-44) with 7:14 left in the ball game. However, that was one of the last leads the Tomcats enjoyed for the rest of the contest, as the Jackets went to work in grabbing control of the crucial PAC clash.
A pair of Propst free throws kicked off a 12-0 Waynesburg run that ironically ended with two more foul shots, the latter pair coming from junior forward
Thomas Ellis. The home team never trailed for the remainder of the contest. Trailing by five, Thiel managed to knock down a last-second jump shot that pulled it to within a single basket at 62-59, but it was too little, too late for the Tomcats.
Propst and Durham tied for the team lead in scoring with 13 points each. Durham went a perfect three-for-three from three-point range. Freshman guard
Christian Koroly chipped in 10 points to the winning effort.
The Jackets forced Thiel into 24 turnovers and shot 50 percent from three-point range (six-for-12). Waynesburg was also efficient from the free throw line, knocking down 14-of-18 tries from the charity stripe.
The Orange and Black look for their fourth-straight win on Saturday, Feb. 15, when Westminster comes to town. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.
