As the regular season winds down, it continues to inch closer into crunch time for many teams looking to make a playoff run in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. Both the Waynesburg and Westminster men’s basketball teams were in need of a big win this past Saturday in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania.

As the afternoon played out, Waynesburg had to play catch-up with Westminster, and never caught the Titans, falling, 73-58. Westminster defeated Waynesburg, 73-58.  

Just like in the first meeting between these two teams, an 85-74 Titans win Dec. 16, it was a former Yellow Jacket who stung his former team.

Dylan O’Hara, who scored 35 points in the prequel,  shined bright again, scoring 29 and adding nine rebounds. O’Hara stood out before 25 friends and family cheering him on senior day. 

“It meant a lot,” he said. “The support was great, especially getting the win today”.

On Waynesburg’s side, head coach Tim Fusina liked the way his team played defensively, but acknowledged what needed to be adjusted.

“Flat out we turn it over too much, that’s the first thing,” Fusina said. “When we turn it over 20 times a night and when Westminster has 13 more shots then us, we put ourselves behind the eight ball… It all starts with our ball security, not valuing the ball, and turning it over too much. That makes you press a little more, making you a little more tentative, leading to some bad shots.”

Fifth-year senior Brennan Smith led the Jackets with 17 points, and Alonzo posted his sixth double-double of the season with 15 points and 11 rebounds. For Westminster, Blake Payne and Josh Hutcherson added 11 and 10 points respectively. 

There is no time to rest for Jackets who still have five more conference games left to play in the regular season.

Waynesburg’s next stop is back home this Wednesday against the Geneva Golden Tornadoes. Waynesburg won in the first meeting, 76-72, which started the Jackets four-game winning streak that has been the highlight of the 2019-20 season thus far. Fusina credits his team’s defense for that success and hopes to get back to that level of play for the remaining games.

“I think we defended really well this past month, so we need to continue to defend and take care of the ball,” Fusina said. “If we can take care of the ball and give ourselves extra possessions to get points then we’ll be fine. We can’t continue down this road where we turn the ball over 20 times.”