Jan 14, 2015 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – It is a long way – more than 1,400 miles – from Jason Propst’s hometown of Brighton, Colo., to Waynesburg, where the senior forward has been playing his college basketball for four years.

And Propst is working on scoring one point for each of those miles.

Propst scored 10 points Wednesday, including the 1,000th of his career, and was a force on the offensive boards in helping Waynesburg to an impressive 71-50 victory over Thiel in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game at Rudy Marisa Fieldhouse.

The win capped a stretch of four games in eight days for Waynesburg (5-2, 9-7), which went 3-1 over that period and moved into third place in the conference with the win over the Tomcats. The Yellow Jackets are only a half-game behind second-place Thomas More. That’s rare territory for Waynesburg, which was coming off a six-win season when energetic young coach Mark Christner landed Propst as a member of his first full recruiting class.

So how did an athletic, 6-5 guy who has both an inside and outside scoring touch end up going from Colorado to Waynesburg?

“My sister, Michelle, found the school first at a college fair,” Propst explained. “She went here, liked it, stayed in the area and got married. I was fortunate that I could live with her for three years.”

Propst has been a four-year starter for the Yellow Jackets and a key piece in the resurgence of Waynesburg basketball. When Propst agreed to come to Waynesburg, it was a lot like buying stock in Microsoft 30 years ago. There was a sales pitch and hope for success in the future, but not much else to offer. Today, Propst and six other Waynesburg seniors are beginning to reap dividends from their hard work and commitment to the program.

“He’s really grown up, which is hard to do when you’re so far from home,” Christner said of Propst, who leads a balanced Waynesburg attack with an average of 11.6 points per game.

“Our relationship has grown, and I’m proud of the maturation he has shown.”

A natural small forward who often has to play against taller and bulkier low-post players, Propst can cause headaches for opponents.

“He’s a tough matchup,” Christner admitted. “He more like a 3-man with his skillset. That’s why we like to move him out to the perimeter. He’s very athletic, as he showed in the first half.”

Propst scored six points in the first half on three baskets, and none was more spectacular than his first. Propst moved out to the left wing and attempted a three-pointer, only to have the shot blocked upward by Thiel’s 6-8 Clandell Cetoute. Propst didn’t give up on the play. He alertly grabbed the rebound, drove to the basket and threw down a two-handed slam dunk that gave Waynesburg a 24-11 lead and capped a 20-2 run by the Yellow Jackets.

Propst drove for another basket with three seconds left that gave Waynesburg a 40-27 lead at halftime. The Yellow Jackets’ sticky man-to-man defense held Thiel without a field goal for more than nine minutes in the half.

Thiel (4-2, 7-7), which had its three-game winning streak snapped, shot only 31 percent from the field for the game and 27 percent (9-for-34) in the second half.

Waynesburg scored 28 points off 21 Thiel turnovers, and the Yellow Jackets grabbed 16 offensive rebounds, including six by Propst.

It was the eighth time in 10 games that Waynesburg – a team that was struggling on the defensive end early in the season – held its opponent to less than 42 percent shooting.

“We found some things,” Christner said. “We’re doing a better job of switching and staying in front of the ball. We’re not the fleetest of foot, but we communicate well. We’re also doing a good job of some cat-and-mouse stuff in the passing lanes.”

After giving up the big run, Thiel pulled to within 31-25 late in the first half. Point guard B.J. Durham, who led the Yellow Jackets with 11 points, regained the momentum for Waynesburg by making a three-pointer, and 30 seconds later he converted a rare four-point play.

Propst scored four points, including his 1,000th, in Waynesburg’s 6-0 run to open the second half, making the score 46-27. Thiel could get no closer than 13 points the rest of the way.

Tyler Miller came off the bench to score 10 points for Waynesburg, and Jacob Fleegle grabbed nine rebounds.

Thiel did not have a player score more than eight points.

“This was a good win,” Christner said. “Thiel already went to Thomas More and won.”

Added Propst: “We’ve been able to string a few wins together. This was our fourth game in a week, which is difficult to do physically. I’m impressed with what we were able to do.”