From Jan. 26, 2023

By Ethan Spozarski

The Waynesburg University men’s basketball team got back in the win column with a victory over St. Vincent College, 70-61, on Wednesday night.

Five minutes and thirty-one seconds into the game, the Yellow Jackets held a 9-0 lead. Junior forward Antone Baker had six of the nine points. Baker finished the first half with eight points. Baker discussed how the team was able to adjust after the 5-game losing streak.

“Overall I feel like we were just able to play a whole game,” Baker said. “We trusted each other, I really don’t think we did much else different, to be honest.”

With just under seven minutes remaining, the Bearcats brought the game within two points at 17-15.

From that point on, junior forward Jansen Knotts recorded up eight points and helped the Yellow Jackets lead 33-24 entering halftime.

During the second half, both teams remained scoring back and forth. Waynesburg went 12-of-23 from the field while St. Vincent went 14-for-30.

Waynesburg finished 22-of-44 from the field, shooting 50%, and remained perfect from outside the ark, finishing 4-for-4. The Yellow Jackets also hit 22 of their 27 free throw attempts.

“It feels great to get the win under our belt,” Baker said. “This was something we needed to see as a group and I feel this is the jumpstart for us to continue to carry over into the next game.”

“It was a huge win for us,” Knotts said. “We struggled with some things in our game and certain things didn’t fall our way in those close games. Even though we aren’t where we would like, we have the confidence we can play and beat everyone in our conference.”

Baker led the team with 18 points, Knotts with 16, and senior guard Ryan Felberg totaled 14 points. Knotts explained the difference between this year’s team and last year’s.

“We have the same guys, but this year I would say we are closer,” Knotts said. “The difference last year though is we were able to win close games and we haven’t pulled that out this year.”

Four of Waynesburg’s wins have come on the road, three of them conference wins. The Yellow Jackets have won one game at home and lost all seven when playing conference opponents. Two of those losses at home were in overtime and double overtime.

The Bearcats’ scoring was led by Shamar Bennett with 20 points, followed by Tayler McNeil with 16 points. No other Bearcat finished above 10 points.

The Yellow Jackets get back into action at the Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse when they take on Westminster College on Feb. 1 at 7 p.m.