Waynesburg women squeeze past Bethany
WAYNESBURG – Ray Robinson came up just short of hitting a prestigious milestone on Wednesday night. No matter. He added to his growing legend at Waynesburg College just the same.
A limping Robinson came off the bench in the final minutes and hit a crucial 3-pointer with 50 seconds left to help the Yellow Jackets survive a furious Bethany College rally in winning a 97-90 thriller at Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse.
Robinson, who injured his ankle in the first half and re-injured midway through the second half, finished with 32 points, leaving him one point shy of the 2,000 mark for his collegiate career.
Waynesburg improved to 15-6 overall and 5-2 in the President’s Athletic Conference. The Yellow Jackets entered the game tied with Grove City for first place.
Bethany fell to 9-12 and 2-5. It’s only two PAC wins, ironically, are against Waynesburg, earlier this season, and Grove City.
The Bison trailed by 28 points, 67-39, with 13:57 left in the game, but, sparked by an amazing 24-point run in a span of just 3:33 late in the half, the visitors pulled within one, 89-88, on Matt Drahos basket with one minute left.
Robinson, who entered the game moments before, launched his clutch trey 10 seconds later, and Waynesburg hit five of six free throws in the final 33 seconds to secure the win.
Robinson was on crutches after the game and was being taken to a local hospital for precautionary x-rays. He missed the entire 24-point Bethany run, but convinced coach Rudy Marisa to put him back in at the end.
“I said ‘I’m ready’ because I knew it was getting close,” Robinson said. “I was going to do whatever it took to win the game.”
Marisa was impressed with his warrior senior.
“”He came to me and said he could play,” Marisa said. “He said he wanted to in because he knew the game was on the line. So he goes in and hits the three.
“How good is that?”
Robinson hit 11 of 17 shots, including three of seven from 3-point land, and was seven for seven at the foul line. He also had three assists.
Waynesburg Central graduate Aaron Ankrom and Jake Marcoux each contributed 16 points and 11 rebounds for the Yellow Jackets. Mike Pamepinto added 13 points, and Beau Henderson chipped in with nine points, nine boards, eight assists and three steals.
Mike Majzun and Derek Hoffman led Bethany with 27 and 26 points, respectively.
If he his cleared to play, Robinson will almost certainly hit the 2,000 mark against visiting Westminster on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.
Robinson, a Uniontown graduate, started out on fire, scoring six of Waynesburg’s first eight points as the hosts jumped out to a 12-2 lead.
The Yellow Jackets buzzed out to a 29-10 lead before settling on a 44-29 halftime lead.
Waynesburg opened the second half with a 14-4 burst that included 12 points by Robinson and opened up a 58-33 advantage.
The lead would grow bigger, but the Bison never caved in. Taking advantage of three Waynesburg technical fouls, foul trouble and Robinson’s injury, Bethany stormed back, mainly by pounding the ball inside.
“This team believes,” said first-year Bison coach Aaron Huffman, who is a Waynesburg Central graduate. “Early in the game we didn’t battle and Waynesburg did. They played harder than us in the first half. It took until about four minutes were left in the first half for us to start playing.
“Obviously, it made it easier for us to pressure them with Ray out, arguably the best player in the conference,” Huffman said.
Bethany’s rally fell just short thanks to Robinson’s momentum-breaking trey.
“Ray Robinson is a spectacular player,” Huffman said. “We have the utmost respect for him, and Ankrom, too.
“Spectacular players make spectacular plays, and that’s what Ray did.”
Marisa was happy to take career win No. 564 any way he could get it.
“Momentum switches are fairly common occurrence in basketball,” Marisa said in summing up the frantic game. “The bottom line is I’m happy to come out a winner.”