NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (Jan. 27) – The Waynesburg University men's basketball team traveled to Westminster College on Wednesday night for a  Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) showdown with the Titans. The Yellow Jackets battled back-and-forth with the host team, but came up just short of victory in a 66-65 loss.
 
Things started slowly for Waynesburg (5-13, 5-6), which fell behind 5-0 early in the contest. Westminster (5-13, 5-6) managed to stay ahead of the Jackets until 6:02 into the first half, when a layup by sophomore Jon Knab gave his team its first lead of the night at 14-13.
 
The advantage was short-lived, unfortunately, as a pair of free throws gave the Titans the lead back at 15-14. The host squad never relinquished the advantage before halftime as the opening period wound to its conclusion. Waynesburg was able to pull within a single basket before the break, thanks to a pair of free throws from senior B.J. Durham with just a second showing on the game clock.
 
Westminster came out firing to open the second half and built its lead up to seven points (38-31) following a brief 6-0 run. The Titan advantage grew to as many as 11 points on several occasions during the early portion of the period. However, Waynesburg didn't lose its composure and clawed back into the contest in the second part of the half.
 
Fueled primarily by 10 points from freshman Brennan Smith, the Jackets used a 15-2 run to turn a 49-38 deficit into a slim two-point edge (53-51) with 9:08 showing on the game clock. That Waynesburg surge set the stage for a back-and-forth home stretch to the conference clash.
 
Trailing by three points (66-63) with just 12 seconds left in the game, Durham made a pair of clutch free throws to pull Waynesburg to within a single point of the lead. The Jackets caught a break, which came in the form of two missed Titan free throws with seven seconds left to play and the road team had one last shot to pull out a victory. Unfortunately, Durham's last-second three-pointer didn't find its mark, allowing Westminster to take the win in front of its home crowd.
 
Thanks mostly to his contributions to Waynesburg's big second-half scoring run, Smith paced the Jackets with a team-high 14 points on six-of-eight shooting over 16 minutes off the bench. Senior D.J. Ritchie added 11 points and a team-best eight rebounds, while Durham chipped in nine markers to the losing effort.
 
Waynesburg will try to bounce back from the defeat on Saturday, Jan. 30, when it returns to the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse to host Grove City. Tipoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.