No one on Waynesburg’s roster has beaten Bethany. The Yellow Jackets [5-10 5-19] has lost 10 games in a row to the Bison [3-12 4-20], and the latest failure was particularly painful.  

When Waynesburg rode into West Virginia Jan. 18, the team was flying high on a four-game winning streak, playing a Bison squad that had yet to win a game in conference play. But the Jackets came out flat, and fell  72-59. The setback stung at the time, and hurt worse in the aftermath. Waynesburg lost its next to six games and briefly raised concerns about its status in the PAC conference tournament.

Now, the Jackets have officially sealed up a playoff spot, and now face the Bison again with a chance to move from the eighth seed to the seventh seed.

Ball security

 For senior Cam Auld, part of the reason for the loss in the first matchup was self-inflicted words. t

“Turnovers really killed us early,” Auld said. “We had a couple guys in foul trouble. That takes away from us being able to be as aggressive as we want to be on the defensive end.”

For Jackets coach Tim Fusina,  his team must play harder and together to get a win on Saturday.

“We need to go out with a win because I don’t think we gave up our best effort down there,” Fusina said. 

For Auld, fewer turnovers and not getting into foul trouble will be two of the keys to defeating Bethany.

“Coaches emphasize getting 12 or less [turnovers] and we’re going to be a pretty successful team [if we do that],” Auld said. “Foul trouble is always going to be something that we key in on. Especially down low we lack size after Isaiah  [Alonzo] and Brennan [Smith]. If we can keep those guys out of foul trouble because we have such a size advantage against Bethany, I think we’ll be good to go.”

An opponent with nothing to lose

Waynesburg already clinched a spot in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference tournament and Bethany is eliminated. Waynesburg  is currently the eighth seed but can move up a spot seed with a win or a Thiel loss to Geneva. Auld knows that Bethany wants to play spoiler, as it doesn’t have anything else to play for.

“They’re just going to come in and they know they can affect our seeding and how our season can play out going forward,” Auld said. “They’re probably going to just come and play really hard. They’re a scrappy group.”

Exercising Demons

Even though Waynesburg’s playoff spot is sealed, this is still a game the players, especially Auld and the four other seniors would love to win. 

“We’ve never beaten Bethany,” Auld said.  “That’s something that’s personal for us. Last year we went into this game against Bethany and we lost, and it cost us a whole seed in the playoffs. We’re approaching it like we need to win because we want to give ourselves the best chance to play Next Saturday in the PAC championships.”

Tip-off is Saturday at 3:30 in the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse.