Dec 7, 2021 4 min read

During one particular frantic 24-second stretch, the points and turnovers came fast and furious.

Washington & Jefferson guard Isaiah Langston swished a jump shot, and before the public address announcer could say who made the basket, the Presidents were in a full-court press. Kyran Mitchell stole the basketball from a Bethany player and drove for a layup.

Mitchell then stole the ball again before Bethany could get it anywhere near the frontcourt and fed teammate J.R. Mazza, who sank the first of his four three-pointers on the night, leaving Bethany scrambling to call a timeout.

That was all in the game’s first minute. The remaining 39 were not much different.

Washington & Jefferson, behind a triple-double by Mitchell, overwhelmed Bethany, 103-56, Tuesday night to move into a tie for first place in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

Mitchell, a junior guard from Reading, made six of seven shots to finish with 12 points. He also grabbed a game-high 12 rebounds and contributed 10 assists. He narrowly missed a quadruple-double as he made eight steals. And he played only 21 minutes.

“He make us go,” said W&J coach Ethan Stewart-Smith.

Where the Presidents are going is to the top of the conference standings. W&J improved to 3-0 in the PAC and 7-2 overall. The Presidents share first place with Waynesburg. Geneva is a half-game behind.

The 103 points, which could have been much more had Stewart-Smith not cleared his bench early in the second half, marked the fourth time W&J has scored that exact number. The Presidents are averaging 95 points per game, or 21 more than they did a season ago. They have not been held to fewer than 81 points in a game.

The offensive surge is a result of a change in styles of play. Instead of walking the ball up the court and playing a half-court game, the Presidents have transitioned to a fast-paced, pressing style that is wearing down opponents and creating good scoring opportunities.

“I have to give a lot of credit to my assistant, Evan Bonnaure, who coached and learned this system at East Stroudsburg,” Stewart-Smith said. “In the past, we were a defensive-minded half-court team. Now we have the depth, size and athletic ability at the guard positions that this system fits perfectly. The guys have bought into the system.”

That system gets everybody involved, which made it easy for the Presidents’ players to buy into the full-speed ahead style.

“It gives everyone an opportunity to do a little something offensively. That’s good for us because we have so many guys who can do so many things,” Mitchell said. “I played on an AAU team in Reading that’s style was all pressure, pressure, pressure. This is like that. It gets me back to my roots. That’s when I started to love the game.”

That depth was apparent not only on the court but on the statistics sheet as well. The Presidents had six players score in double figures, led by Langston’s 16 points. Maqzza finished with 14, Kaden DeVito came off the bench to score 13 and Nick Gearhart and Beckett Connelly each had 11.

W&J had 44 baskets and 33 assists.

“We have a really versatile group that likes to share the ball,” Stewart-Smith said.

W&J led 17-9, pushed the advantage to 25-12 and then went on a 15-0 run that made the score 36-12 with more than 11 minute left before halftime. The half closed with W&J leading 60-29.

Bethany (1-2, 1-6) played sans head coach Mike Worrell, who was absent because of medical reasons. The Bison committed 26 turnovers, leading to 27 W&J points.

The Bison shot only 31 percent.

Travis Zimmerman played a solid game for Bethany, scoring 17 points. Julian McGee, who played at First Love Christian Academy in Washington, had 10 points.

It was the final home game for W&J until January. The Presidents do not play again until Dec. 20 at Mount Aloysius. And if Presidents keep playing this high-scoring, fast-paced style, seats might be hard to find at Salvitti Family Gymnasium. Who would have ever thought that?

“This is a fun style. People enjoy watching it.” Stewart-Smith said.