Yellow Jackets win fourth-straight game
Waynesburg took a step toward securing the coveted fourth spot in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference standings thanks to a 72-57 win against Westminster Saturday.
In doing so, Waynesburg (13-11, 8-7) clinched its first winning season since 2005-06, which is the first under head coach Mark Christner.
“[Having a winning program] means that our guys have invested a lot and were starting to see some of their results of the hard work in the offseason,” said Christner. “Most of the stuff gets done in March through October, and there’s a lot of sacrifice that goes on in the summer. You always try to get to as good as you can be.”
The game started off with a 17-10 Waynesburg lead, but the entire first half was a back-and-forth contest between the two teams.
“We knew going into it that they weren’t going to back down,” said junior forward Jacob Fleegle. “They beat us the first time, and obviously we felt like we had something to prove after the first time we lost.”
From that point, Westminster went on a 19-6 run to build a 29-23 lead. Christner called a timeout, after a sequence of five turnovers combined by both squads.
“There was a lack of focus,” said Christner. “It wasn’t necessarily anything physical; it was just the lack of execution. It had been with this group since I had to do that.”
Freshman guard Christian Koroly thought it was just a way of getting the team back on track.
“I think [Christner] was just trying to wake us up,” said Koroly. “We were not focused and [Christner] was just trying to light a fire under our butts and get us going.”
After the timeout, Waynesburg went on a 20-6 run to close the half to make it 40-35 Jackets.
“I think after those timeouts we did a good job responding and were able to pull it together,” said Fleegle
Coming out of the half, both teams combined for only 11 points in the opening seven minutes.
“We knew defensively coming into the game and at half time that we would really have to dig in,” said Fleegle. “We gave 96 points up there on the road. It was both teams making adjustments and eventually figuring out how to attack the offensive adjustments.”
Westminster was able to get within four points, before Waynesburg went on a 16-8 run over the next 12 minutes. A couple technical fouls at the end of the game allowed Waynesburg to put the finishing touches on its 13th victory of the season.
Because of the victory, Waynesburg kept pace with Washington & Jefferson for a chance to claim the fourth seed in the PAC standings. The Jackets still have the chance to host a home playoff game for the first time since 2005-06.
According to Christner, the team wants to focus on playing its best basketball heading into the PAC Championships.
“I think the biggest focus is continual improvement,” said Christner. “We’re not playing as well as we can play yet as a group. As long as there are games on the schedule there are opportunities for that growth to happen.”
Waynesburg’s PAC Tournament fate will be determined after the completion of Saturday’s PAC games. Because the women’s team is facing Chatham Saturday, the men’s team is idle.