Jan 16, 2019 4 min read

Zach Queen’s three-pointer – his fifth of the game – with 16 seconds remaining gave Washington & Jefferson’s men’s basketball team a 63-61 victory over host Grove City on Wednesday night in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

Queen’s basket came with W&J trailing 61-60 and gave the Presidents a 6-2 record in conference play (8-9 overall) as they trail only first-place Saint Vincent.

The outcome wasn’t decided until Grove City’s Justice Rice, a former Monessen standout, missed a three-pointer with three second remaining and the Wolverines’ Joe Meola missed a shot at the buzzer after grabbing the offensive rebound.

The loss napped a four-game winning streak by Grove City (4-4, 8-7).

Queen finished with a team-high 18 points. Cameron Seeman followed with 16 points. W&J got off to s slow start and trailed 26-21 at halftime.

Isaac Williams and Nate Peters each had 18 points for Grove City.

Pitt-Johnstown 95, California 72: Jared Jakubick and Caiden Landis combined to score 44 points as Pitt-Johnstown cruised to a 95-72 win over California in a PSAC West Division game.

Jakubick, who came off the bench, made seven of 10 three-pointers to score a game-high 23 points. He was the only threat from the perimeter for UPJ (6-3, 11-5). Outside of Jakubick, the Mountain Cats went 1-for-13 from behind the arc.

Landis scored 21 points and had nine assists.

The Vulcans trailed 43-30 at halftime, a deficit created in the opening four minutes of the game when UPJ took a 12-0 lead. They never trimmed the margin back to single digits.

California (4-5, 6-9) had three players score in double figures, led by Collin MacAdams’ 20-point night. Brent Pegram scored 16 points and Zyan Collins finished with 14.

Bethany 73, Waynesburg 72: Freshman Derek White Jr. scored 20 points and Bethany snapped a 12-game losing streak by holding off Waynesburg 73-72 in a PAC game.

It was the first conference win of the year for Bethany (1-7, 2-15) and wasn’t assured until Matt Popeck missed a desperation three as time expired.

Waynesburg (3-5, 4-12) has lost three in a row. The Yellow Jackets had a chance to tie but missed a free throws with eight seconds remaining. After a foul, Bethany also missed at the free-throw line and gave Waynesburg one last heave at the basket.

Brennan Smith led Waynesburg in scoring with 21 points and Poeck had 19.

Women’s results

California 63, Pitt-Johnstown 49: Seairra Barrett scored 18 points and California, ranked No. 15 in NCAA Division II, used its defense to defeat host Pitt-Johnstown 63-49 in a PSAC West Division game.

California (8-1, 14-1) was able to win despite shooting only 39 percent because the Vulcans were able to attempt 23 more shots than UPJ. That was because the Cal defense forced 27 turnovers. The Vulcans turned the ball over only 10 times.

California fell behind by five points in the first quarter but stormed back to take a 15-11 lead at the quarter break and never trailed again, slowly pulling away.

Jihanna Flood-Francis scored 14 points for Cal and Abbey Sporio totaled 12.

Pitt-Johsntown (4-6, 8-9) was led by a game-high 23 points from Gabrielle Smith.

Wash & Jeff 76, Grove City 60: Danielle Parker made 12 of 14 shots to score a career-high 27 points as Washington & Jefferson won its ninth consecutive game by defeating Grove City, 76-60, in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

The win gives the Presidents sole possession of second place. Grove City falls to third. Both teams trail first-place Saint Vincent, which is undefeated in conference play.

Parker, a Canon-McMillan graduate, was 3-for-3 from behind the arc and led both teams with eight rebounds to help W&J (7-1, 11-5) take a 37-21 lead into halftime. Parker was 12 of 14 from the field.

The only other player to score in double figures for the Presidents, who shot 55 percent from the field, was Maria Lawhorne with 14.

Jess Bowen led Grove City (5-3, 10-7) with 14 points. Kate Balcom added 13 for the Wolverines.

Waynesburg 69, Bethany 61: Monica Starre and Andrea Orlosky combined for 37 points as Waynesburg snapped a six-game losing streak with a 69-61 home victory over Bethany in the PAC.

Waynesburg (3-6, 5-12) outscored Bethany (4-4, 9-8) in each of the first three quarters and led by as many as 20 points (51-31) in the fourth quarter. Bethany scored 30 points, almost half of its game total, in the fourth quarter.

Starre had a double-double of 19 points and 10 rebounds. She narrowly missed a rare triple-double, finishing with nine assists and four steals.

Orlosky had 18 points, Haley Porter scored 13 and Brooke Fuller had 11.

Ashley Duthie led Bethany with 17 points, Makayla Reynolds had 12 and former McGuffey standout Sammie Weiss netted 10 points.