LATROBE, Pa. (Feb. 28) – The Waynesburg University men's basketball team traveled to Saint Vincent College on Saturday night riding a nine-game winning streak into the championship game of the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) Men's Basketball Tournament. The second-seeded Yellow Jackets knew that one more victory over top-seeded Saint Vincent would not only stretch that run of success into double digits, but it would give them their first title since 1996.
The number one vs. number two battle lived up to expectations as the lead switched multiple times over 40 grueling minutes of play. Unfortunately, Waynesburg saw its winning streak come to an end at the worst possible time as the Bearcats claimed their third-straight conference title by the final score of 72-66.
The Jackets (18-10), who were making their first appearance in the PAC title tilt since 2006, opened the scoring with a pair of free throws from senior guard
Byrum Louco to take a 2-0 lead. Waynesburg and Saint Vincent (22-6) battled back-and-forth, but with 5:32 left to play in the first half, the home team built up a 25-19 advantage.
However, a 10-2 run by the Orange and Black that included six points from Louco put Waynesburg ahead 29-27 with 42 seconds showing on the first-half clock. The Cats managed to tie the game back up at 29-29 before both squads went to their respective locker rooms for halftime.
When play resumed in the second half, Waynesburg immediately regained the advantage thanks to a basket from senior
Kenny Klase. Louco proceeded to double the advantage to 33-29. Later, after momentarily losing the lead, senior guard Casey Kope posted an old-fashioned three-point play to put the Jackets ahead 38-37 with 13:25 showing on the game clock.
Unfortunately, Hope's free throw marked the last lead of the game for the visiting Jackets, as SVC not only jumped back ahead by the score of 40-38, but eventually built advantages as large as 12 points (61-49) as the game wore on. To the Jackets' credit, they never gave up in their fight for a title before the final buzzer sounded.
Though it came in defeat, Louco put together perhaps the greatest game of his collegiate career on Saturday night. The speedster, who is also a three-time national qualifier in outdoor track & field, scored a game-high and personal collegiate-best 21 points on nine-of-13 shooting. He also led all Jackets and set a personal-best with eight rebounds. Classmate
Jacob Fleegle contributed 13 points to the Waynesburg effort
The game was ultimately decided beyond the three-point arc and at the free throw line, where Saint Vincent boasted significant advantages over the Jackets. The Bearcats converted 21-of-30 free throws and seven-of-18 three-point tries, while Waynesburg managed to make 12-of-16 foul shots and four-of-17 attempts from long range.
It is unlikely that either of Saturday's championship game participants can hang up their uniforms for the year just yet. While Saint Vincent earned the coveted automatic bid to the NCAA Division III National Tournament, Waynesburg will likely be selected to participate in the Eastern Collegiate Athletic Conference (ECAC) South Tournament for a second-straight year. Official word on whether or not the Jackets will participate in the event is expected to be released on Monday, March 2.
