WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Nov. 11) – The Waynesburg University men's basketball team opened the home portion of its schedule by hosting Penn State New Kensington for a non-Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) matchup. The two squads battled in a back-and-forth matchup for 40 minutes that saw the Yellow Jackets pull out a 72-68 victory.
With the win, the Jackets improved to 3-0 for the first time since the 1986-87 season.
The first half was a hard-fought 20 minutes of action that featured a slew of lead changes and ties. New Kensington (0-2) led by as many as six points on multiple occasions, which were the largest leads ever built by either team on the evening.
With just over a minute remaining in the first half, Waynesburg (3-0) senior
Scott Bilovus (Imperial, Pa. / West Allegheny) dropped in a fast break layup to give his team a slim 43-42 edge, which was also the score at halftime.
The second half was more of the same, as neither team was able to grasp firm control of momentum. With 4:44 showing on the clock, the Nittany Lions held a 68-64 lead. Just over 40 seconds later, the home team took off on a game-deciding 8-0 run to close out the contest.
Junior
Jackson Rhodes (Christchurch, New Zealand / St. Andrews College) got things rolling with an old-fashioned three-point play that made the score 68-67. On Waynesburg's next possession, senior
Casey Keesee (Tipp City, Ohio / Bethel) converted a pair of free throws to put his team ahead 69-68.
With just over two minutes left to play, Keesee connected on another free throw, but the game was still very much in doubt. The final result was finally secured over the final 14 seconds, as Keesee knocked down two more attempts from the charity stripe.
Bilovus notched his second-straight 20-point game by putting up exactly 20 on 6-of-10 shooting, including a 4-of-7 effort from three-point range. He added four rebounds to his night. Rhodes just missed out on a double-double with nine points and a team-high eight boards.
A big reason for the Jackets' latest victory was the work of the bench players, who outscored their counterparts 32-5. Junior
Aiden Blake (Parkersburg, W.Va. / Parkersburg South) tallied 17 of those points on 7-of-11 shooting, with almost half of those makes coming from long range. Senior
Grant Barnhart (St. Mary's, W.Va. / St. Mary's) also reached double digits with 11 points.
Waynesburg will be back in action at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse this weekend when it hosts the two-day Omni Ink Waynesburg Tip-Off Tournament. The Jackets will welcome Mount Union, Muhlenberg and Case Western Reserve to town for four games over two days. The Orange and Black face Muhlenberg at 5 p.m. on Friday to get the action rolling.
