When Albert Varacallo transferred to Washington & Jefferson College from Gannon University this fall, he didn't know how to correctly shoot a jump shot. That was largely a secret to Varacallo, a 6-4 swingman from DuBois.
"He wouldn't get his legs into his shot," explained W&J's second-year head coach Glenn Gutierrez. "We like to have our guys shoot with their momentum going forward. Albert was shooting the ball flat-footed."
That was something Gutierrez noticed in preseason drills, but getting Varacallo to change his shot and be consistent with it has taken time and plenty of practice.
One minor tweak, it seems, has finally turned Varacallo into an offensive force for the Presidents.
Varacallo scored a career-high 30 points, including 5-for-7 shooting from three-point range, as Washington & Jefferson routed Waynesburg 92-63 Saturday in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game at Henry Memorial Center.
"Some guys shoot a certain way for a long time, and tinkering with their shot just makes it worse," Gutierrez said. "Albert's problem wasn't his form. It was just improving his footwork."
The importance of Varacallo's footwork against Waynesburg was unavoidable. Varacallo was 4-for-4 from the field with 11 points as W&J bolted to a 13-2 lead in the game's first three minutes. By halftime, Varacallo had 20 points, only two shy of his career high.
"We knew Varacallo had that kind of ability. He's shown it at times," said Waynesburg coach Frank Ferraro. "When he's shooting like that, they're hitting on all cylinders. And physically, we don't match up with them."
Waynesburg (1-5, 6-9), a team that relies largely on it three-point shooting, was an anemic 1-for-13 behind the arc in the first half and shot only 26.7 percent from the field. The Yellow Jackets trailed by as many as 16 points in the first half but managed to pull to within 42-32 at the break.
"Sometimes when you make shots early, you get a false sense of security and lose track of what you need to do to win," Gutierrez said. "The first thing I addressed at halftime was we didn't stop the dribble and we were fouling too much. We had to correct that because Waynesburg shoots too well for us to count on them shooting 27 percent in the second half."
Waynesburg made four of its first five shots in the second half, and after a steal by Jared Gamble led to a 16-foot jumper by Jared Clark, the Jackets had cut W&J's lead to 48-44.
That's when, with center Josh Parisi - Waynesburg's only true low-post player - on the bench with three fouls, Gutierrez switched to a lineup that has given the Jackets fits for years. Gutierrez put 6-8 Josip Lucic-Jozak and 6-4 Wahab Owolabi on the court at the same and worked a high-low offensive set.
Waynesburg had no answer for W&J's Twin Towers. The Presidents (3-2, 6-9) outscored the Jackets 44-19 the rest of the way with Lucic-Jozak and Owolabi combining for 19 points.
"No doubt the inside game is their bread and butter," Ferraro said. "At times, we had good help defense on them inside but we got into foul trouble. When W&J is shooting well on the perimeter, it makes it tough for us because we don't have that two-headed monster inside."
Senior guard Tim Drakeley led Waynesburg with 15 points, seven below his PAC-leading average. Drakeley was 1-for-8 from three-point range and his only basket from behind the arc came with 8:38 remaining - after W&J had built its lead to 17 points.
Lucic-Jozak finished with 18 points and 10 rebounds. Owaolabi had 14 points and a game-high 12 rebounds. Freshman Brian Felker scored 11 points.
"We can count on the inside guys to score," Varacallo said, "so it's probably how well we play on the perimeter that will determine how far we can go."
Notes
The Presidents have won seven of the last eight against Waynesburg. ... Varacallo was 10-for-17 from the field. ... The Presidents had 20 assists and only 10 turnovers. ... W&J's Matt Drakeley, Tim's younger brother, scored four points. ... W&J outrebounded Waynesburg by a whopping 54-29 margin. ... The Jackets have lost four in a row. ... The Presidents host Bethany (4-1, 9-7) Wednesday at 6 p.m.