Gallant Yellow Jackets fall to W&J in PAC semifinals
Washington & Jefferson held off a gallant Waynesburg team, 66-61, on Thursday night in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference men’s basketball semifinals as the Presidents seek their first conference championship since 1995.
“All this is is a reward for the work that these guys have put in,” W&J coach Ethan Stewart-Smith said.
“I think they’re the best team in the league,” said Waynesburg coach Tim Fusina whose team was playing without star Matt Popeck for the second straight game.
W&J got off to a slow start, falling behind 5-0, but outscored Waynesburg 38-22 in the rest of the first half to go into halftime up by 11. Nick Gearhart (14 points) and J.R. Mazza (11) made up most of W&J’s scoring, and on the other side, Waynesburg’s Jake Scheidt had 13 points in the first half, setting a career-high in just 20 minutes. He finished the night with a team-high 19 points.
In the second half, Waynesburg hung around, even grabbing the lead at one point, but never could catch up to the Presidents and fell to its I-79 rival for the third time this season.
Mazza led the Presidents with 21 points, and Gearhart wasn’t far behind with 19. Michael Bigley chipped in 10 for W&J. For Waynesburg, Nijon Kirkman had 13 points and 10 rebounds in his last college game. Jansen Knotts and John Tastinger added 11 each to go with Scheidt’s 19
Despite the sour ending, Waynesburg made strides this winter, winning a PAC tournament game for the first time since 2015 and winning one on the road for the first time since 2006.
Kirkman, Zach Ford and Steven Eng are set to depart and Popeck’s status is uncertain — the 2017 Wash High graduate has a year of eligibility remaining.
Everybody else is projected to be back at Waynesburg for year four of the Fusina era.
“It’s also going to be a huge spring and summer for guys like Ryan Felberg, Bryson Wilt, Jansen Knotts, Jake Scheidt, Antone Baker, all of those guys to improve,” Fusina said. “So it’s an important time for us right now, but I’m very pleased with where we are as a program.”
The W&J men will take on Chatham Saturday at 7:30 p.m. in Washington.