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Bethany continues to dominate Waynesburg
Sports Editor
WAYNESBURG - The 35-second shot clocks weren't working Wednesday night at Marisa Fieldhouse. That technical glitch didn't bother the Bethany College men's basketball team. The way Bethany played offense against Waynesburg, a 15-second shot clock would have provided the Bison with more time than was needed to score.
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Both teams have had their development slowed by injuries. Waynesburg lost two potential starters, Colby Grubich (finger) and Ryan Courneen (knee), to season-ending injuries before the Yellow Jackets played their first game. Bethany, meanwhile, had dependable forward Ryan Besancon suffer a shoulder injury on the first day of practice and Petre Petkovski, a 6-7 junior with a smooth outside shot, has rarely practiced because of a bum ankle.
Unlike Waynesburg's injured players, Besancon and Petkovski were in the lineup Wednesday and helped Bethany (1-1, 4-3) continue its dominance of the series. They were among seven Bison who scored in double figures.
"I'm pleased to go out and get a win on the road. For whatever reason, we seem to always play well here," said Bethany coach and Waynesburg native Aaron Huffman.
The win was the 11th straight for Bethany over Waynesburg (0-2, 2-3).
Brody Jackson scored 21 points to lead Bethany, which scored 50 points in each half.
"We're going to find ways to score," said Huffman, whose team suffered a nine-point loss to Thomas More last Saturday.
"Since the Thomas More game, I think we've spent about 15 minutes in practice on offense. What we've been stressing is defense."
Bethany played just enough defense against Waynesburg. After quickly falling behind 10-4 at the game's outset, Bethany held Waynesburg to only two field goals over the nine minutes to forge a 28-17 lead. The advantage grew to 15 points before halftime, then Bethany held Waynesburg scoreless for the first four minutes of the second half and opened up a seemingly safe 68-44 lead.
"I was pleased with those two defensive stretches," Huffman said, "but we need to add minutes to that. In the past, we could blank teams for eight-minute stretches. We need the guys to buy into that kind of a mentality."
While Waynesburg lacks the size and depth to battle most teams in the low post, the Jackets have been making up for that deficiency with three-point shooting and floor burns. The long-range shooting of senior guard Tim Drakeley, who scored a game-high 28 points, got the Jackets back to within striking distance at 82-72. Drakeley, who made five three-pointers, scored 17 points during a seven-minute stretch of the second half.
"We only have five players back from last year, and a lot of the guys we're playing off the bench are freshmen," Drakeley explained. "Those guys are playing well, but the two guys we lost before the season are huge losses."
Waynesburg's lack of depth showed down the stretch as Bethany closed the game with an 18-6 run.
Brody Jackson led Bethany with 21 points including five three-pointers. All five Bison starters scored in double figures as Tyler Morando had 16 points, Petkovski scored 12 and Besancon and Marcus Adams contributed 10 each. Dakota Matz and Joe Testa (Trinity) came off the bench to score 10 points each. Eight of Testa's points came in the second half when Waynesburg had regained the momentum.
"We didn't play good defense," Drakeley said. "We let Bethany do whatever they wanted to do. Brody Jackson shot really well. We were stressing not to lose him and we did. You can't lose track of a player like that. Our transition defense wasn't very good."
Josh Parisi scored 21 points for Waynesburg. Dan Happe, who was leading the PAC in scoring at 20.8, was held to 13.
