Jackets’ hot streak halted at Bethany

Bison now own 10 straight wins over Waynesburg

Coming into Wednesday night’s game at Bethany, the  men’s basketball team was one of the hottest teams in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, having won four straight.

However, Bethany, who came into the night at just 1-15 overall and 0-6 in conference play, got a  72-59 win over the Yellow Jackets [4-13, 4-4], halting Waynesburg’s momentum. 

“I think we had some self-inflicted wounds,” Yellow Jackets’ coach Tim Fusina. “We turned it over 20 times, gave them 21 points off of turnovers, and 16 second chance points.”

Aside from holding a 1-0 lead early, the Jackets trailed all night. After falling behind by as many as 15 points in the first 20 minutes, Waynesburg cut the lead to three points in the second half. But Waynesburg couldn’t get out of its own way offensively, and for Fusina, this was a big reason why the Jackets were unable to complete the comeback.

“It seemed like every time we started to make a run that we’d turn it over and Bethany would make a shot,” he said. 

Brennan Smith led Waynesburg in scoring with 20 points. Isaiah Alonzo was close behind with 16 points, and Frank Bozicevic also cracked double digits with 12.

The win for Bethany is its 10th straight against Waynesburg, in a streak that dates back to the 2015-16 season. It’s also the second straight year that the Bison have faced Waynesburg with an 0-7 conference record, and collected their first PAC win of the season at the Jackets’ expense. 

“Give credit to Bethany,” Fusina said. “They made some timely shots tonight. They outworked us for 40 minutes.”

Wednesday night marked Waynesburg’s final game in the first half of conference play. At 4-4, the Jackets will start the second half against Grove City, who handled Waynesburg 73-45 back in early December.

“Grove City is a team right now that I think is the best in our league,” Fusina said. “We have our work cut out for us on Saturday.”

Moving forward, the priorities for Waynesburg are simple, Fusina said. 

“We can’t turn the ball over as much as we have been,” he said. “We have to block out, and we have to play tougher.”