Staff writer

jmontecalvo@observer-reporter.com

GROVE CITY - The similarities between the Washington & Jefferson and Grove City men's basketball teams show up nearly every time the teams meet.

Both depend on stellar defensive efforts and waiting patiently for quality shots on the offensive end, and it usually results in a tightly-contested game.

That was evident during the regular season when the Wolverines won two games over W&J by a combined 12 points.

The game plan, for Grove City, has been the same against the Presidents over the last two years. The Wolverines try to stop W&J's inside game and force the Presidents to make outside shots.

The strategy worked fairly well for Grove City Thursday night when it hosted W&J in the semifinals of the Presidents' Athletic Conference tournament.

W&J shot only 38 percent from the field in the first half, and made just two of 11 three-point field goals.

In the closing minutesof the game, the Presidents made two key three-pointers and junior center Josip Lucic-Jozak grabbed an offensive rebound and scored on the putback with 2.7 seconds left to lift W&J to a thrilling come-from-behind 64-63 win at Grove City College Arena.

The win puts the Presidents in the PAC tournament's title game for the second consecutive season. W&J (14-13) takes on Bethany, a 105-98 winner over Thomas More, Saturday night in the championship game at Bethany's Hummel Field House.

"We made a couple of big plays," W&J coach Glenn Gutierrez said. "We talked before the game with the team that somebody was going to have to make some plays.

"Because both teams play so well defensively, somebody was going to have to step up. Fortunately for us, it was the guys wearing black."

W&J trailed by five points with a little more than 2:30 left in regulation when Albert Varacallo made a three-pointer and was fouled. He converted the free-throw to close the gap to 58-57.

After a pair of free throws by Grove City's Ryan Gerber with 2:20 to play gave the Wolverines (17-10) a three-point lead, Matt Drakeley drained a long-range shot from the corner to tie the game with 2:10 left.

"We had a little hand off and I came off two screens. Their guy got held up and I knocked it down," Drakeley said. "We knew coming in they would double- and triple-team us in the post, so we had to knock some shots down to take the pressure off the big guys.

"And the four-point play by Varacallo was unbelievable. You never see that."

Grove City reclaimed the lead at 63-60 with 29 seconds left, but Lucic-Jozak converted a pair of free throws with 17.7 to play and W&J forced a turnover on the ensuing Grove City inbound play.

After a timeout, Lucic-Jozak grabbed his own rebound and scored the winning basket. Wahab Owolabi then intercepted the Wolverines' inbound pass at half court as time expired.

"To come in here and beat (Grove City) showed a lot of character on the part of our kids and I'm as proud as I can be of them," Gutierrez said. "For us, it's been about guarding defensively and getting on the glass."

And that has carried the Presidents to late-season success for the second-straight year. W&J has held opponents to a PAC-low 65.2 points per game this season and is the top-rebounding team in the conference.

The Presidents owned a 38-27 edge on the boards, including 13-4 on the offensive end.

W&J held a seven-point lead seven times during the first half, but Grove City closed the first 20 minutes on a 10-2 run to take a one-point lead to the locker room.

"I felt good then because our problem has been in the last five minutes of the first half we've given some leads away," Grove City coach Steve Lamie said. "Looking at the big picture, we didn't shoot well from the outside and their ability to go inside to Lucic-Jozak and Varacallo getting hot made a difference."

Gerber led the Wolverines, who shot 41 percent from the floor, with 20 points off the bench while starters Ryan Gibson and Bobby Turner added 14 and 10, respectively for Grove City, which had won 18 of the last 21 meetings between the schools. The Wolverines' leading scorer, Shawn Carr, was held to six points on two of 10 shooting. Carr had 10 rebounds.

W&J trailed 50-42 with about 10 minutes left before going on a 9-0 run to take the lead with seven minutes remaining.

"We've both been in a lot of close games," Gutierrez said. "Us and Grove City are very comparable with how we play."

Varacallo made four three-pointers and finished with a game-high 21 points to go with seven rebounds. Drakeley added 15 points and made all three of his three-point attempts and Lucic-Jozak had 18 points and five rebounds.

"None of the guys on the team had beaten them here," Drakeley said. "This was a huge win for us."

Home