WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Feb. 22) – The Waynesburg University men's basketball team take a two-game winning streak into the upcoming Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) tournament thanks to Saturday's regular season-ending 73-65 win over Bethany. The victory gave the Yellow Jackets sole possession of seventh place in the PAC standings and a date with second seeded Chatham for the opening game of the upcoming tournament.
Waynesburg (6-19, 6-10) was led by sophomore
Isaiah Alonzo (Chandler, Ariz. / Tri-City Christian Academy), who went off for a game-high 25 points on an efficient eight-of-13 shooting performance from the field. He also knocked down nine-of-11 free throw attempts and tied for the team lead with nine rebounds.
Freshman guard
Ryan Felberg (Twinsburg, Ohio / Twinsburg) added 14 points to the winning effort, while senior guard
Frank Bozicevic chipped in 12 points and eight rebounds before fouling out.
Senior
Brennan Smith (New Cumberland, W.Va. / Oak Glen) nearly logged a double-double on 10 points and nine rebounds.
A big part of Waynesburg's winning formula on the day came at the free throw line, where the Jackets flashed the form that had them among the nation's leader in foul shooting earlier this year. The Yellow Jackets connected on 21-of-24 attempts from the charity stripe in the victory.
Bethany (4-21, 3-13), which will miss out on the upcoming playoffs, was its own worst enemy at times. The Bison lived outside the three-point arc, but only converted three-of-30 tries from downtown.
The Jackets quickly took control of the game by scoring the first 10 points of the contest. That advantage eventually grew to 29-6 over the first 20 minutes of play, before Waynesburg went to the locker room up 42-26.
The home team finished a wire-to-wire run in the lead, but the Bison made an admirable run at a comeback win by pulling to within five points with just over a minute left in the game. However, the Jackets made five-of-six free throws during the final 41 seconds of play to close out the win.
The Jackets open the 2020 PAC playoffs by traveling to Chatham on Tuesday. Tipoff is scheduled for 7 p.m.
