The Waynesburg University Yellow Jackets men’s basketball team beat the Westminster College Titans 74-71 in a back-and-forth thriller. 

The Yellow Jackets leading scorer, Jaylen Davis, put up an impressive line on the stat sheet; scoring 21 points, snatching 17 boards and grabbing four steals. Just behind Davis was Antone Baker, putting up 20 points, and Jordan McLoyd dropping 15 points. 

In a true bucket for bucket game, the first half saw four lead changes as the Yellow Jackets would go into the locker room leading the Titans 34-29. 

“We know teams are always going to come out and give us their best shot,” McLoyd said. “But if we control defensive stops and wrapping possessions, we can play with anybody.” 

The scoring battle continued into the second half. Although Waynesburg would keep the lead until 9:16 left in the game, there would be six lead changes in the remaining time of play. 

The Titans held the lead with two minutes left 69-68. The scoring was halted for both teams until Baker stole the ball at half court and got fouled going to the basket. Baker sank both free throws giving the Yellow Jackets a one-point lead with 42 seconds remaining. 

Westminster’s Quincy Jones pulled off a spectacular dunk over a Waynesburg defender with 30 seconds left. Jones’ dunk gave Westminster back the lead 70-69. 

The Yellow Jackets could have kept the ball for the last shot, but Baker pulled up from roughly 19 feet away from the rim and sank it with 14 seconds remaining. 

With no timeouts remaining, Westminster threw the ball up court trying to put in the game winner. Andrew Clark would get the ball in the right corner and put up a three-pointer, but not before Baker stuffed it and passed the ball up court to McLoyd. McLoyd was fouled and went on to make both free throws to ice the game as the Yellow Jackets won 74-71. 

“Doing the little things and staying in tune to the game will give us the best chance at going far,” McLoyd said. 

With this win, Waynesburg improve to 8-8 overall and 5-6 in conference play. The Jackets will take on the Bethany Bison (7-10, 6-6) this Saturday at 3 p.m. at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse.