Men’s basketball wins first game of season
About ten minutes into Saturday’s Presidents’ Athletic Conference matchup between the Westminster Titans and Waynesburg’s men’s basketball team, Westminster forward Jason Pilarski dribbled the ball off his foot into a loose ball situation after attempting to grab an offensive rebound.
Waynesburg freshman Dylan O’Hara dove to the floor for the ball as did Pilarski. Pilarski and O’Hara engaged in shoving and elbows were thrown while the two were lying on the hardcourt.
The scurry happened in front of a raucous Waynesburg student section who was seeing the Jackets play at home for the first time this year, and beyond anything else, the skirmish, in which both players were tagged with technical fouls and Pilarski a personal as well, awoke the crowd and seemingly an unenergetic game at that point.
Waynesburg wound up getting its first victory of the season with a 73-65 win to move to 1-6 overall and 1-2 in PAC play. Westminster fell to 2-6 overall and 2-1 in conference action.
“I wouldn’t say it was a basketball play,” said sixth year head coach Mark Christner. “Both guys went after the ball and it looked to me like Dylan [O’Hara] got ‘shmucked’ in the face, but as I told him when he came over, ‘welcome to PAC play.’ Westminster was a school on his final list so maybe they didn’t like that he came here. I don’t know but he has some cat scratches. He kind of earned his technical you could say.”
O’Hara ended the day four points in a somewhat stacked middle-of-the-pack in terms of scoring on the day for the Jackets. Senior wing DJ Ritchie led all scorers in the contest with 22 points and was helped out on the offensive by fellow senior Nate Labishak, who tallied 13 points, four rebounds and five assists in the win.
The double-digit effort for Ritchie was perhaps one his best performances of the year.
“DJ has been very good all year,” said Christner. “He has a unique skill set and he works really hard. I think he was anxious to have a bigger role and he has come out and played well.”
The contribution of 13 points was the third game in a row Labishak scored in double figures. He had 15 in the overtime loss to Thomas More and 18 against Grove City, two games that were on the road. Labishak was a perfect 7-7 from the free throw line.
“Nate’s a guy that plays with emotion and he’s been steady for us since we started conference play,” said Christner. “When his concentration is on point he makes some big plays and shots for us and we will need him to keep contributing.”
Sophomore Jon Knab may have had the most underrated output for the Jackets in the win, contributing 16 points on 7-9 shooting from the field and made two big threes.
Knab also grabbed four rebounds and had three takeaways on the afternoon. At one point, Knab punched a rebound out from a Westminster play and the ball fell into the hands of Nate Labishak for an easy lay-up.
“He [Knab] has to continue to grow in confidence,” said Christner. “He’ll learn ways he contribute on the court and that those are many. His progression has been good. He made some huge shots. I can specifically remember two book-end threes and he and Timmy [Kaiser] made a really nice basketball play at one point.”
Waynesburg’s leading scorer BJ Durham shot just 2-15 from the field, but Christner acknowledged it’s nice to win games with that happening.
“He [Durham] knows he’s not the only guy and he will start making some more shots,” said Christner. “He did make some big plays playing our style defensively in the second half and is finding ways to contribute elsewhere. Semesters can be funny sometimes. He is struggling a bit this semester but who knows what is to come. His shot will work out.”
Waynesburg, following the win, will hit the road Saturday, Dec. 19 and visit the University of Pitt-Greensburg, a team Waynesburg had its way with in last year’s matchup, an 83-63 win for the Jackets. Kenny Klase, then a senior, now graduated, led the Jackets’ charge in that contest with 21 points, while Durham and Ritchie both added ten points in the blowout win.
Tipoff for Saturday’s non-conference game is scheduled for 1 p.m. in Greensburg, Pennsylvania. Pitt-Greensburg is 5-1 this season and did defeat the lone common opponent between the two teams, Grove City, in its season opener by a final of 79-73.