The Waynesburg men’s basketball team had just come off a crucial road win at Geneva College on Jan. 15. 

The Yellow Jackets were quickly halted on Tuesday night, however, as the Westminster Titans rolled to a 71-51 victory in New Wilmington, Pa. 

“We made Geneva uncomfortable,” Waynesburg head coach Tim Fusina said. “We allowed Westminster to be comfortable pretty much the whole night.” 

The Titans felt comfortable enough to shoot 42.1% from the field and knock down 10 three pointers, nine of them coming in the first half. 

It was a different story for the Yellow Jacket offense, shooting just 30.6% and going 4-15 from deep. 

“They made us take bad shots,” Fusina said. “We saw them make shots, and we saw us struggle to make shots after a certain point. Then it just snowballed from there.” 

It was an early 7-1 lead for Waynesburg, but when Westminster took their first lead of the game at 16-13, the Titans never looked back. 

The half time score saw the home team up 46-21 and the visitors would never get it within single digits after that point. 

“We rushed all night offensively,” Fusina said. “If you dig yourself a hole like that, it’s going to be hard to get out of.” 

The bright spot for Waynesburg was sophomore forward Jansen Knotts, who has been aiding the Yellow Jackets over the past two games.  

After dropping 19 at Geneva, Knotts finished with 18 points, six rebounds, and went 3-3 from beyond the arc. Knotts was also the only Yellow Jacket to score in double figures. 

“I’m playing with a lot of confidence right now,” Knotts said. “I’m just trying to help my team out as much as I can.” 

The only other Waynesburg triple came from sophomore guard Bryson Wilt, who finished with nine points and managed a game-high four steals. 

Senior guard Matt Popeck, who dropped a whopping 31 points just three days prior, ended up with only nine points and his first game this season being held under 10.  

For the victors, senior guard Daniel Ritter led the charge with 17 points and seven rebounds, going 7-8 from the charity stripe. 

Sophomore guard Reese Leone was right behind Ritter with 16 points of his own. 

Senior forward Josh Hutcherson and sophomore guard Andrew Clark combined for 24 boards with 12 rebounds, respectively.  

This was the first of three games in a span of five days for the Yellow Jackets.  

Game two takes place on the road once again as Waynesburg travels to Bethany College to face the Bison on Thursday, Jan. 20. Tipoff is at 7:30 p.m. for the conference matchup. 

“We [have] to compete on Thursday night and we [have] to win,” Fusina said. “That’s the only thing that should be on our mind right now.”