WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Jan. 28) – The Waynesburg University men's basketball team rode a truly impressive offensive surge to victory during Wednesday night's home Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game against Westminster. The Yellow Jackets erased an early deficit and wound up comfortably defeating the Titans by the final score of 81-60.
Things started slowly for the Jackets (10-9, 6-4), who fell behind the visitors (5-13, 2-7) 9-3 after 2:19 of competition. Westminster kept the hammer down against Waynesburg and grew its advantage to as many as nine points during several points in the early portion of the game.
The Titans led for the first 10 minutes of the contest and held a 24-18 edge with 9:14 showing on the game clock. One second later, the Orange and Black began slowly putting together one of its best stretches in recent program history. One basket led to another, and another, etc. until the Jackets had scored an impressive 27-straight points to go up 45-24 with less than three minutes remaining in the half.
Waynesburg bumped its lead up to as many as 23 points in the second half before closing out the victory. The home team saw its lead shrink to as few as 12 points (72-60) with just over five minutes left to play, but finished the game on the upswing by scoring the final nine points of the contest.
The Jacket offense showcased its typical balance as five different players scored between nine and 14 points in the victory. Junior wing
D.J. Ritchie led the charge with a team-high 14 points. Senior wings
Kenny Klase and
Thomas Ellis chipped in 13 points each, while another senior duo,
Jacob Fleegle and
Casey Hope, contributed 11 and nine points, respectively.
Ellis completed a double-double by yanking down a game-best 10 rebounds. Hope paced the Waynesburg defense with a game-high four steals, while senior forward
Jason Propst handed out a team-best four assists.
The Jackets are back in action on Saturday, Jan. 31, when they travel to Grove City. Tipoff with the Wolverines is scheduled for 3 p.m.
