All five starters scored in double figures tonight, as the Westminster College men's basketball team remained unbeaten and tied for first place in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) with a 118-111 victory at PAC rival Washington & Jefferson College in Washington, Pa. The Titans evened their overall ledger at 9-9 and improved to a perfect 4-0 in league play, as Westminster posted its sixth straight win. W&J dropped to 7-10 overall, 1-3 in the PAC.
The Westminster wins sets up a huge showdown for first place in the PAC this Saturday, Jan. 31, in New Wilmington, as the Titans host league co-leader Bethany College (13-4, 4-0 PAC) for sole possession of the conference lead at Buzz Ridl Gymnasium at 3 p.m. Since switching to a run-and-gun offense and full-court trapping defense after a 2-8 start, the Titans are now 7-1 since the turn of the new year (scoring over 100 points in six of the eight contests) and are averaging 109.6 ppg in that span.
W&J led 11-10 4:30 into the game when Westminster took the lead for good by going on a 13-2 run which put the Titans up 23-13 with 13:05 to play in the half. The Blue & White led by as many as 21 in the first half (45-24 with 8:12 left) before settling into a 15-point halftime lead at 65-50. Westminster built the lead back to 19 points (71-52) early in the second period when W&J began to slowly chip away at the lead, finally battling its way into a 90-90 tie on a three-pointer by Jon Koch with 8:47 to play. The Presidents could not gain the lead, however, as junior guard Chris Hatch (Canfield, OH/South Range H.S.) answered with an old-fashioned three-point play for a 93-90 Titan advantage. Westminster led by single digits the rest of the way as W&J closed within two points twice, the last at 107-105 with 2:26 left, but could get no closer as the Titans made all six of their free throws in the final 2:21.
Sophomore guard Mark DeMonaco (New Castle/New Castle H.S.) paced the Titan scoring attack with a team-high 29 points including six three-pointers, followed by junior guard Ed Pagley (New Castle/New Castle H.S.) with 22, junior forward Pat O'Connor (Pittsburgh/Keystone Oaks H.S.) with 21, Hatch with 18 and sophomore forward Dom Joseph (New Castle/New Castle H.S.) with 10. The Titans outrebounded the Presidents 42-39, including 21-12 on the offensive glass, with Joseph and O'Connor each hauling in seven caroms. DeMonaco and Joseph each dished out six assists, while O'Connor added six steals. W&J was paced by Steve Button with game-high totals of 32 points and 10 rebounds, while Koch added 29 markers in defeat.
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