Things didn’t go well for debuting head coach Tim Fusina and the Waynesburg University Yellow Jacket basketball team this weekend, as they dropped both games in the Greg Richards Memorial Classic at Allegheny College.

Friday night the Jackets fell to John Carroll 78-58, before losing to tournament host Allegheny, 82-62 Saturday night. Fusina saw both good things and bad things this weekend.

“I thought there were times that we did some things very well both offensively and defensively,” Fusina said. “There were spurts where we were very good and spurts where we were not. I think it all has to do with being new to a style of play and trying to understand where each of us fit in.”

Fusina recalls specific instances where Waynesburg performed well on both sides of the ball. 

“I thought we had some pretty nice possessions, especially in the second half against Allegheny. We were playing our way,” Fusina said. “Defensively I thought in the second half against John Carroll, we were outstanding.”

In the loss to John Carroll, junior guard Matt Popeck led the Jackets in scoring with 16 points. Senior guard Sam Heeter also contributed nine points. Sophomore center Isiah Alonzo also had nine  points his first game with Waynesburg, as he transferred from Tohono O’odham Community College in Arizona.

 For John Carroll, senior forward Ryan Berger led the team with 22 points and his twin brother James added 15. 

Fusina knows what improvements his team must make moving forward.

“We need to be able to change the ball from side to side and work for great shots,” he said. “We need to use each other to get those great shots, and if we do that, we’ll be ok moving forward.”

One improvement that Waynesburg made between both games was from the three-point line. Against John Carroll, the Jackets shot only 26.3% from three. Waynesburg shot 38.9% from three against Allegheny.

In the Allegheny game, senior forward Brennen Smith scored a career high 32 points. Popeck and Alonzo each tallied 13 points.. For the Gators, Freshman guard Keeno Holmes scored 22 points, and senior forward Jordan Rawls recorded 18 points. Despite his stats,  Smith was still disappointed with the outcome of the game.

“I think I played well. Besides that, I wish we would have played better as a team,” Smith said. “I’m not going to be on every single night so we can’t rely on me or Matt or Isiah to score every night. Obviously, I like getting my career high but not in that manner.”

Fusina has high praise for Smith early on this season.

“Brennen has taken on a leadership role and I think has done an excellent job in getting guys on board with what we’re doing,” Fusina said. “I enjoy working with Brennen. Brennen is a great worker. Brennen is a competitor. He’s a talented player but also he cares.”

Despite Waynesburg losing its first two games of the season, Fusina is confident that his squad will be competitive.

“For the season [our goal is]  to get better every day and to compete at the top of our league. I don’t think that’s out of the realm of possibility,” Fusina said. “It’s very attainable, I think we have some talented guys, I think we have three or four guys every night that can score.”

Smith agreed with his coach.

“I would just like our team to just improve every single game because I can see how we improved from yesterday to today,” Smith said. “As long as everyone is staying positive, we just want to keep improving and making the team as a whole better.”

Waynesburg is back in action Tuesday, Nov. 19 against Fredonia at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse with tip-off being at 7 p.m.