Grove City is unquestionably one of the best teams in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference this season, and according to Waynesburg head coach Tim Fusina, it is  the best. However, the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse has been a house of horrors for the Wolverines [9-7, 6-2] in recent years. Waynesburg University [4-13, 4-4] has won seven straight games over Grove City at home.

Grove City won a lopsided affair Dec. 4 at home against the Jackets, 73-45. The Wolverines are now tied for first place with Chatham in the PAC. Waynesburg guard Cam Auld knows Grove City is a force to be reckoned with.

“All around they’re a good team,” Auld said. “I’d say probably the team right now to beat in the PAC.”

Fusina believes Grove City’s success is due to its discipline. 

“They defend, and they stick to their system and they play their system to the best of their ability,” Fusina said. “They’re very deliberate. They don’t deviate. They do what they do and do it well.”

Freshman guard Ryan Felberg, who has developed into one of Waynesburg’s most important players, knows how hard it is to get any offensive rhythm going against Grove City. 

“They defend at a high level all the time. They switch every screen and they deny every pass,” Felberg said. “It’s always tough to get into an offense when you are playing against Grove City. During practice we’ve been working on the switch and getting open on the wings and getting into our offense.”

For Felberg, Grove City’s size will make getting the ball out to the wings a challenge. 

“They’re all long, they’re all tall and have big wing spans,” Felberg said. “They’re always pressuring  [the ball] and getting passes off and shots off.”

In the first matchup between the two teams,  of the season, Waynesburg had a season-high 28 turnovers, which is something that cannot be repeated Saturday, Fusina said. 

“We have to take care of the ball,” he said. “We turned it over too many times against them.“They switch a lot, so we have to see the switch. We must get the ball when we slip screens. We must get the ball to the slip; we must get open shots. We have to get the ball inside.”

Auld believes protecting the rock is the biggest key to getting back on track Saturday. 

“Taking care of the ball,” Auld said. “That’s going to be the key factor at the end of the day.”

When the two teams met in December,  Waynesburg was 0-6. Since then, Felberg sees significant improvement  from his team. 

“We’re scoring the ball a lot more now, we’re getting into our offense a lot better,” Felberg said. “Guys are starting to understand how the offense works, and what we need to do to score.”

Saturday marks the start to the second half of conference play. Fusina realizes how imperative it is to start that second half with a win. 

“We’re in a position right now where if we can win, we have a shot to get into the top three,” Fusina said. “It’s a very important game for us to come out and compete and play hard. If we play hard, we have a chance.” 

Tip-off is at 3:30 p.m.