After a big win over next-door neighbor Washington & Jefferson College, there were high hopes for the Waynesburg University men’s basketball team heading into its contest with the Saint Vincent College Bearcats, who dropped two straight games before hosting the Jackets.

That is, until Saturday’s opening tip.

Any hopes for an upset over the regular season PAC champion Bearcats quickly evaporated in an 88-60 defeat for the men’s basketball team.

Waynesburg quickly fell behind Saint Vincent thanks to abysmal shooting in the first half. The team shot just 27 percent from the field, which pales in comparison to the Bearcats 52 percent from the field.

“There is no shame in going [to Saint Vincent] and getting beat,” said Waynesburg University men’s basketball coach Mark Christner. “They played well, and we didn’t. We will continue to make some progress.”

In the second half, the hometown Bearcats came out firing. Sophomore David Stephen led all scorers with 17 points, earning 12 in the second half. Stephen also hit four of five triples in the final 20 minutes of play, and Saint Vincent ballooned its lead to as many as 38 points.

However, Christner did see some progress in his players, especially in the underclassmen.

“I’ll be honest,” Christner said. “I coached Saturday with an eye on the future. Bryce Washington had done a nice job, and younger players like Zach Ford and Andrew Clark stepped up. The fact of the matter is it was a blowout, so you don’t really assess that much.”

Ford was given the tall task of defending one of the favorites for 2019 PAC player of the year in Tom Kromka. Ford was able to frustrate Kromka in many instances and prevented him from doing any further damage.

“[Ford] has done a good job coming to practice every day,” said Christner. “He’s an eager learner, I know that he wants to do it, and he’s a big kid.”

However, Waynesburg did not have a double-digit scorer for the first time all season, with two players scoring nine points—sophomore Matt Popeck and junior Brennan Smith. This is the first time that a Waynesburg men’s basketball player did not crack double-digits in a game since Jan. 7, 2017.

“We didn’t play very well,” Christner said. “We prepared, I think we practiced well on Thursday and Friday, and this happens sometimes. We didn’t have a great start, had some foul issues, and we just didn’t knock down some shots.”

As Waynesburg looks to put Saturday’s 28-point loss to Saint Vincent behind them, it has just two conference games left before the PAC playoffs. Waynesburg has qualified as one of the eight playoff teams, but to avoid playing Saint Vincent in the first round it has to win out. However, if the Yellow Jackets do win out they can be seeded as high as fourth in the playoff bracket. While it is unlikely that Waynesburg will host a men’s playoff game, it isn’t completely out of the question.

“We need a three-way tie to get a home playoff game,” Christner said. “I don’t know all of the different scenarios and different factors. I know that we can’t catch Chatham and Westminster, but we have Grove City and Washington & Jefferson right in front of us and Geneva and Thiel right behind us. All that we can do is just let the chips fall where they may.”