College notebook: Wise, UPJ off to strong start
Josh Wise is off to his best start to a season as a member of the Pitt-Johnstown men’s basketball team.
Wise, a junior guard from Washington, is the leading scorer for UPJ and has led the Mountain Cats to an 8-3 record and the No. 9 ranking in the NCAA Division II Atlantic Region.
A former Observer-Reporter Boys Basketball Player of the Year while at Wash High, Wise is averaging 19.1 points per game on 49 percent shooting from the field and 84 percent from the field. He is second on the team in rebounding at 5.1 per game and averages 2.5 assists.
Wise has scored in double figures in every game this season, including a 31-point outburst in UPJ’s 109-97 victory over Kutztown on Dec. 8. The 31 points matched Wise’s career high. He made 12 of 16 shots from the field, including three of four from three-point range, made all four of his free throws and had two assists as UPJ came back from a 13-point deficit to win.
In Pitt-Johnstown’s 102-99 loss to Le Moyne in triple overtime at the IUP Thanksgiving Invitational, Wise had 27 points and five assists before fouling out.
Wise was named the PSAC West Player of the Week on Dec. 3. He scored 17 points on 8-for-10 shooting, grabbed five rebounds, had five assists and made two steals in Pitt-Johnstown’s 129-69 thumping of Carlow on Nov. 28. Wise then opened PSAC play with a game-high 23 points, six rebounds, three steals one blocked shot and a steal in a 85-70 win at Mansfield on Dec. 1. One day later, he scored 22 points in the Mountain Cats’ 76-71 loss at Shippensburg.
In wrestling
A.C. Headlee, a redshirt junior from Waynesburg, has a 9-4 record for North Carolina, where he is members of the Tar Heel’s team that is coached by Waynesburg graduate and Olympic medalist Coleman Scott.
Headlee is wrestling at 141 pounds. Three of his nine wins have come via fall with the fastest pin coming in 2:12. Headlee placed second at the Hokie Open in Roanoke, Va. He won two bouts by fall and two by decision before dropping a 10-6 decision in the finals to Jamel Morris of North Carolina State.
Colin McCracken, a sophomore from Waynesburg, has a 15-6 record for Kent State. Four of McCracken’s win have been pins and three were major decisions.
McCracken was fifth at the Findlay Open on Nov. 17 competing at 197 pounds. He was 4-1 in the tournament with three pins.
McCracken was sixth at the Ohio Intercollegiate Open. He was 12-22 last year with a 3-1 record in the Journeyman Classic and a 3-2 mark at the Clarion Open in his collegiate debut, including a pin in 15 seconds.
Austin Bell, a Belle Vernon graduated who transferred from Pitt, is a redshirt sophomore for Lock Haven. Bell is currently 5-6 at 174 pounds with one pin and two major decisions.
Belle Vernon graduate Jacob Dunlop is starting for Gannon as a sophomore at 125. He has a 9-5 record.
Kyle Homet of Waynesburg, a freshman at Gardner-Webb, has a 7-5 record for the Bulldogs. He has been in the lineup at 174 pounds for every dual meet and has a 3-1 record in those events. Of his seven wins, two are major decisions and two are pins.
In basketball
For the first time this season and the fourth time of her career, Washington & Jefferson senior Danielle Parker was named the Presidents’ Athletic Conference Player of the Week on Dec. 17.
Parker, a Canonsburg resident and Canon-McMillan graduate, led W&J to a convincing 63-49 win over Westminster on Dec. 15 with a game-high 17 points and 10 rebounds. The senior forward has recorded a double-double four times this season.
Parker has excelled in PAC play as she is averaging 16.8 points and 8.5 rebounds through four league games. Parker is W&J’s leading scorer at 15.1 points per game, leading rebounder (8.1) and is shooting 48 percent from the field.
Zach Ecker, a 6-7 freshman forward from Washington and a Trinity graduate, has started all 11 games for Allegheny. Ecker is averaging 7.2 points and 3.8 rebounds per game. He is shooting 49 percent from the field, which is the best among the Gators’ starters.
Ecker had his best game of the season last Friday at DePauw as he scored 15 points on 5-for-8 shooting and three rebounds. Ecker, who made his first three-pointer of the season in the DePauw game, has scored in double figures in each of Allegheny’s last three games.
Britton Beachy of Canonsburg has moved into the starting lineup as a sophomore at Lancaster Bible. Beachy, a Canon-McMillan graduate, has started all nine games for the Chargers (5-4) and is averaging 8.3 points per game and leads the team in assist at 4.2 per game.
Beachy scored a career-high 20 points and narrowly missed having a triple-double in Lancaster Bible’s 73-59 victory over St. Elizabeth on Dec. 1. Beachy made 12 of 17 free throws and also had nine rebounds and nine assists.
“He is our voice on the floor, and just reads the play really well,” Lancaster Bible coach Andrew Wingreen said. “He makes a lot of our offensive calls on the floor, and when he plays composed, he is good, and we are good.”
Grove City guard Justice Rice of Monessen is one of the Wolverines tri-captains.
Rice, only a sophomore, started every game as a freshman for Grove City and this season is the Wolverines’ second-leading scorer at 12.1 points per game. Rice has displayed terrific marksmanship, shooting 44 percent from the field and 47 percent from three-point range. Rice is Grove City’s leader in both assists and steals and is second in rebounding at 4.8 per game.
The best game this season for Rice was a 20-point performance in a loss at Waynesburg. He also had a 16-point, 11-rebound game in a win over King’s.
In swimming
Freshman Stephen Hopta made an immediate impact at Virginia Military Institute when he set the school record in the 1,000-yard freestyle at the Loyola University tri-meet to open the season. Hopta, a PIAA qualifier at Peters Township, finished second in the 1,000 freestyle in 9:57.82 to set the school record. He also finished second in the 200-yard backstroke in 1:55.43 and third in the 500-yard freestyle (4:54.52).
Compiled by Chris Dugan