Dec 30, 2003 By Andrew Shaw For The Herald Standard 2 min read

WAYNESBURG – It didn’t take Jefferson-Morgan long to unravel against Waynesburg Central. Despite a well-rehearsed game plan, the Rockets found themselves in a quick 13-0 hole, which they would spend the rest of the game digging out of in a 67-40 defeat at the Waynesburg Tournament. Rocket coach Jim Romanus described the loss in blunt fashion.

“They steamrolled us a bit,” Romanus said. “I really thought we’d play a lot tougher, and we didn’t. We didn’t execute.”

Waynesburg (8-3) was all about execution in the first half, out-scoring Jefferson-Morgan 56-24, sparked by a dominating full-court press and Nate Stoner’s 19 points.

In that half, the Rockets could barely manage to set up their offense, and when they could, the shots wouldn’t fall.

“When we could break the press, we missed easy shots,” Romanus said of his 1-7 ball club. “We attacked and missed shots.”

Jefferson-Morgan could only muster nine first-quarter points.

Matt Ferencak paced the Rockets with 12 total points. Matt Muscawitch added 11 in the loss.

Even with the lopsided victory, Waynesburg’s Mark Stoner did not like the team’s overall effort. The Raider’s were out-scored in the second half 16-11, although Stoner admits some of that was from multiple substitutions.

“I wasn’t pleased with our second-half performance. We’re still not a team yet,” Stoner said, noting Waynesburg’s blow-out loss against Uniontown in its previous game. “We need to put together two good halves.”

Stoner was pleased, though, with the play of many of his bench players, who received significant playing time. Anthony Bocchini, who has started in previous games, scored 12 points off the pine. The guard gave Jefferson-Morgan the knock-out blow in the first quarter with a steal and a quick assist to Robert Rohanna for three of his 11 points, leading Romanus to call his second timeout in four minutes.

“He’s been working hard. Scotty Cree has stepped up when we call him, too,” Stoner said.

Waynesburg will face Washington tonight, which defeated McGuffey in the opening game of the tournament.

“It’ll be a good battle tomorrow. Wash High is a good test for us,” Stoner said.

Romanus, however, just wants his team to keep “plugging away,” as they play McGuffey in the consolation game.