WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Jan. 22) – The Waynesburg University men's basketball team hosted Grove City for a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) showdown on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets weathered some early struggles to pull away from the visitors 76-62 and stay in the hunt for a conference title.
The victory gave the Jackets (10-5, 6-2) their first two-game, regular season sweep of the Wolverines (6-8, 2-5) since the 2016-17 campaign. Waynesburg is also off to its best 15-game start to a season since going 11-4 in the 2001-2002 campaign. It's also off to its best start in terms of a PAC schedule since going 6-2 against league competition in 2002-2003.
As previously mentioned, things started slowly for Waynesburg, as Grove City opened up a 10-5 lead just over five minutes into the contest. The Wolverine advantage grew to 16-9 with just over 11 minutes left to play in the first half and kept the host squad at bay for the vast majority of the opening period.
However, after getting fouled on a three-point attempt, senior guard
Matt Popeck (Washington, Pa. / Washington) closed the gap to 33-32 after knocking down a trio of foul shots. Less than a minute later, graduate student forward
Nijon Kirkman (Cleveland, Ohio / John Hay) connected on a layup with five seconds remaining in the half to give the Jackets a 34-33 lead heading into the halftime break.
As he has done so many times this season, the start of the second half marked the beginning of Popeck, who currently sits in second place in the PAC scoring title race at 22.1 points per game, taking over the contest. With his team trailing 37-36, the senior standout scored the game's next seven points to gave Waynesburg what was its largest lead of the game to that point at 43-37.
The Jackets truly started taking control of the contest when sophomore guard
Bryson Wilt (Oakland, Md. / Southern Garrett) knocked down a three pointer that put his team ahead 52-45. That shot started an 18-4 run that expanded Waynesburg's lead to 67-49 with 5:49 showing on the game clock.
To the Wolverines' credit, the visitors didn't give up the ship and used a 10-0 surge to pull to within just eight points of the lead at 67-57. However, the Jackets slammed the door on the comeback try by tallying nine of the game's final 14 points.
Popeck continued his truly impressive senior season by going off for a game-high 33 points. He went 10-of-20 from the floor with a trio of makes from three-point range. He was also efficient at the free throw line, where he knocked down 10-of-11 attempts.
Sophomore forward
Jansen Knotts was the definition of an iron man, as he played all 40 minutes of the victory. Knotts tallied 23 points in the victory, giving him 82 points over his last four games. The Jackets have gone 3-1 in those contests.
Kirkman narrowly missed out on a seventh double-double this season after going for 10 points and nine rebounds. Wilt handed out a contest-best five assists.
Waynesburg's recent trend of being one of the top teams in the PAC in terms of ball control continued in its latest win, as the Jackets gave up just six turnovers, while forcing GCC into 18 miscues.
The Yellow Jackets will look to keep things rolling as they prepare for a showdown with the top team in the PAC: the Chatham Cougars. Tipoff from Pittsburgh is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Monday, Jan. 24.
