Louco, Waynesburg knock off Bethany

WAYNESBURG – If the sport is track, and winning a Presidents’ Athletic Conference championship is the goal, then Byrum Louco is your guy.
Louco, a senior at Waynesburg University, has won PAC outdoor championships in the 400 meters and the 400-meter hurdles. He’s also been part of a conference title-winning 1,600-meter relay team.
Louco doubles as a basketball player and until Thursday night was known as a hard-working defensive specialist. He averaged a mere 4.7 points per game during the regular season.
But postseason basketball often brings out the best in role players, who suddenly become game-changers. That was the case with Louco, who turned in his best stretch of basketball all season and sparked Waynesburg to a 70-57 victory over Bethany in the PAC semifinals at Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse.
The win sends Waynesburg (17-9) to the PAC championship game Saturday (7:30 p.m.) at top-seeded and two-time defending champion Saint Vincent (21-6). The Bearcats defeated Thomas More 86-73 in the other semifinal. Waynesburg has not won a PAC title since 1996.
Louco was the catalyst during a key 5½-minute stretch. He scored all 10 of his points during an 18-8 run that turned a tie game into a 51-41 lead for Waynesburg.
“That’s definitely the best offense I’ve played this year,” said Louco, a guard who was the sixth man during his high school days on a talented North Allegheny team.
“I think teams don’t expect me to score. They know I don’t score much, so sometimes they leave me open. I was just trying to take advantage of it and create some plays.”
Louco began to put his stamp on the game when he drove for a basket that gave Waynesburg the lead at 35-33 early in the second half. After a three-pointer by Jeff Joynes put Bethany back in front, Louco drained a three-pointer from the top of the key to give Waynesburg the lead for good at 38-36. It was only the sixth three-pointer Louco made all season.
“Byrum was very good,” Waynesburg coach Mark Christner said. “When you play a trapping defense like Bethany, they can tell when an offense is back on its heels against the pressure. Byrum did a good job of attacking the traps. His and-one was a big basket in the game.”
That would be Louco’s three-point play that gave the Yellow Jackets a 49-41 lead and all the momentum. On Waynesburg’s next possession, after a steal by the Jackets’ Jacob Fleegle, Louco converted a fast-break layup to make it a 10-point lead with 10:20 remaining.
And to show that he was doing more than just scoring, Louco fed Fleegle in the left corner for a three-pointer that pushed Waynesburg’s lead to 54-43.
Louco began the game with his top priority being to play tough-man-to-man defense and contain Bethany’s D’Vonte Joyce, the leading scorer in the PA. Joyce led Bethany with 15 points, but that’s four below his average. Louco played a superb all-around game, grabbing a game-high eight rebounds and having a team-leading four assists to go with his 4-for-6 shooting. He also played 29 minutes, more than any Yellow Jackets player.
“He hurt us,” Bethany coach Andrew Sachs said. “(Jason) Propst also hurt us by finding a hole in our zone at the foul line.”
Fleegle led four Waynesburg players in double figures with 13 points. Propst and B.J. Durham each had 12. Propst did most of his damage with 15-foot jump shots against the Bison’s 2-3 zone defense and Durham had a key drive and basket after Bethany had made its final charge and pulled to within 60-54.
The Yellow Jackets closed the game by making six consecutive free throws. They made 14 of 16 in the game.
The statistic that bothered Sachs the most was Waynesburg’s 44-27 edge in rebounds. Christner said rebounding was the biggest reason why Waynesburg had two regular-season wins over Bethany by a combined 57 points. This one was much closer.
“It took a while to get adjusted to their zone,” Christner explained. “The first half was frantic and we didn’t have good spacing. We did a better job of attacking the seams in the second half.”
Bethany ends its season with a 17-9 record. The Bison won 11 of their last 14 games, with all three losses coming against Waynesburg.
“They’re a good team. They have seven seniors and that makes a difference,” Sachs said.