Mark Christner, Waynesburg University’s men’s basketball coach, preaches that his team has to be the hardest working unit on the floor game-after-game; that was not the case this past Saturday in the 69-52 loss to the Saint Vincent Bearcats.

The Yellow Jackets were taken out of their game early on in the loss inside the Carey Center in Latrobe, as the team shot an abysmal 19 percent from the field in the first half, with the Bearcats taking a 43-20 lead into the locker room.

Waynesburg played a more competitive second half as the team outscored Saint Vincent 32-26 in the final 20 minutes. The strong second half helped the final outcome look better, but Christner and the team were not happy about the overall performance against the Bearcats.

“We were not satisfied with how the Saint Vincent game went for us,” Christner said. “Saint Vincent put us on our heels a little bit and sometimes we struggled to respond.”

The men’s basketball team now has a 1-4 overall record with a 1-1 record in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference prior to their game against Bethany on Wednesday.

Waynesburg did not shoot well, pass well or have a good offensive flow against Saint Vincent. The Bearcats also pushed the Yellow Jackets to the limit on defense. As the men try to rebound against Thiel on Saturday, Christner mentioned a few keys the Yellow Jackets need to address when they host the Tomcats.

One of the first focuses he mentioned, is that the team will have to set the pace of the game.

The Thiel Tomcats have been known for their fast-paced play in the last few seasons with highly-talented point guard, Tyreik Burton. Christner knows that the tone has to be set by his team on Saturday if the Yellow Jackets want to get into a winnable situation.

“We need to be able to play at a successful pace,” Christner said. “We have to take care of the ball better and get into a good flow offensively.”

The Yellow Jackets turned the ball over 20 times against the Bearcats, which makes it even more sensible that Christner said taking care of the basketball is a key to victory against Thiel.

Heading into Saturday, the Yellow Jackets are poised to face another team with a lot of experience on its roster. The Tomcats carry experience; Burton is one of the more explosive players in the PAC at the point guard position. Burton led the conference a season ago with 18 points-per-game and is among the scoring leaders early into the 2017-18 season.

Christner knows stopping Burton is a priority on Saturday.

“Burton is a really tough competitor,” Christner said. “We have to put pressure on him because he is certainly a key player in that lineup.”

Although Christner put an emphasis on Burton, he also believes that Thiel is a very talented team in the paint and one that features a balanced attack that can give trouble to the Yellow Jackets.

Additionally, Christner is hopeful that his team can reach a specific scoring goal of at least 70 points in order for the team to have a solid chance to come out on top. It seems that all signs of this game in Christner’s eyes point to it being a somewhat low-scoring affair.

“Our guys don’t have to force themselves to do too much individually,” Christner said. “If we move the basketball, play with confidence and score 70 [points] or more, I think we will get the result we want.”

Following Wednesday’s game against Bethany, which was past publication date, the Jackets stay home against Thiel with a tip off at 3:30 p.m. this Saturday.