Small college basketball: Presidents start PAC play with victory
Observer-Reporter
Matthew Carte scored 21 points, Quinton Burlenski and Cameron Rowell each added 15 and Washington & Jefferson opened Presidents Athletic Conference play with an 86-71 win over visiting Chatham on Wednesday.
W&J (1-0, 6-2) led 37-28 at halftime and held off Chatham (0-1, 3-3) in the second half. The Cougars drew to within 47-41 early in the second half before W&J embarked on an 8-0 run and Chatham never threatened the rest of the way.
The Presidents shot 49 percent.
Jake TenBerge paced Chatham with 20 points.
Franciscan 81, Waynesburg 63
Sawyer Butler had 21 points, 11 rebounds and five steals to lead Franciscan to an 81-63 road win over Waynesburg in the PAC opener for both teams.
Butler helped Franciscan (1-0, 5-1) pull away after leading 35-31 at halftime.
Karl Yonkeu added 17 points and Zachary Pollaro had 14 for the Barons.
Waynesburg (0-1, 3-5) was led by Aiden Blake and Cam Danser. Both players had a double-double. Blake scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds. Danser had 14 points, 11 rebounds and six blocked shots.
The Yellow Jackets shot only 31 percent and made just two of 19 three-point attempts.
Women’s results
Wash & Jeff 61, Chatham 52
Katie Kovalchick scored a game-high 22 points as Washington & Jefferson defeated Chatahm 61-52 in a game matching two of the top teams in the PAC in the conference opener.
W&J (1-0, 6-1) won in come-from-behind fashion as Chatham (0-1, 6-2) led 14-13 after one quarter and 30-24 at halftime. W&J outscored the Cougars 19-6 in the pivotal third quarter, when Chatham did not make a field goal.
Riley DeRubbo had a double-double for W&J, scoring 11 points and grabbing 11 rebounds. Stellanie Loutsion also tossed in 11 points.
Hannah Chenault’s 18 points were tops for Chatham.
Waynesburg 78, Franciscan 59
Kalista Friday led five Waynesburg players in double figures with 15 points and the Yellow Jackets used a huge midgame run to beat visiting Franciscan 78-59 in the PAC opener.
Franciscan (0-1, 3-7) led 26-8 with a little less than nine minutes left in the first half. Waynesburg (1-0, 3-4) then embarked on a 34-0 run. The Yellow Jackets scored the final 23 points of the first half to take a 31-26 lead into halftime. Waynesburg then scored the first 11 points of the third quarter for a 42-26 lead. Franciscan went more than 12 minutes without scoring.
Kara McFadden, Clara-Paige Miller, Mia Henkins and Julz Mohrbacher each contributed 12 points for Waynesburg.
Franciscan’s Jazzlyn Melnyk scored a game-high 16 points.