By: Tyler Zeman

For the Yellow Jacket

On Monday night, the Waynesburg men’s basketball team lost its first away game of the season 78-72 to the Geneva Golden Tornadoes.

This puts Waynesburg at 0-2 on the season as Geneva advanced to 1-1.

Even though the team has just taken their second loss, the game was a step in the right direction according to Head Coach Tim Fusina. 

“We had 49 rebounds making us plus 15 on the glass,” Fusina said. “We were able to force Geneva into the shots we wanted them to take.”

Fusina also praised the team’s ability to hold onto the ball against Geneva.

“We took care of the ball only having nine turnovers and that isn’t bad,” Fusina said.

The game was very close all throughout, but the team just couldn’t find that breakthrough they needed. Entering halftime, the Jackets were only down by two with the score being 37-35 in favor of Geneva.

At the start of the second half Waynesburg kept it close, until the Golden Tornadoes went on a big run towards the middle of the half. The Jackets needed a run of their own to keep pace.

The Jackets did find themselves cutting the gap in the second part of the half, until Geneva found its rhythm again. This ultimately put the game out of reach for Waynesburg.

Geneva was led by sophomore guard Lyle Tipton who recorded his first double-double of the season with 20 points and 10 rebounds. Despite the loss, Waynesburg junior forward Isaiah Alonzo also recorded his first double-double of the season with 20 points and 14 rebounds.

Aside from the improvements that the team has made, there are still a few things coach Fusina is looking to fix heading into the next game, specifically on the offensive end.

“We wanted to be better offensively and have better quality possessions because the way we play, it is so different from what these guys are used to,” Fusina said. “We had good possessions, but I think our possessions could be better.” I don’t think we moved the ball enough.”

Although the boards went the Jackets way, there are still aspects of the game to work on.

“Overall, they were a better rebounding team last night, but offensively they still have some issues, which comes down to how young the team is,” Fusina said.

Waynesburg now looks to move on to their next matchup. The Yellow Jackets were supposed to be in action Wednesday night at Thiel; however, that game has been postponed. This means the team will get a little break until they take the floor again on Saturday at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse as they host the Saint Vincent Bearcats. 

Tip-Off for that game will be 2 p.m. You can catch live coverage of the game on the Waynesburg University Sports Network by going to “WUDP” on Youtube.