NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - The Westminster College men's basketball team cruised to an 88-73 win over Washington & Jefferson Saturday in the teams' Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) opener at the Buzz Ridl Gymnasium.
The Titans improve to 3-4 on the season and 1-0 in the PAC, while the Presidents drop to 1-8 overall and 0-1 in the PAC.
Senior guard/forward Dom Joseph (New Castle, Pa./New Castle) scored a game-high 26 points on 8-of-14 shooting from the floor, including 6-of-9 shooting for 17 points in the first half alone.
Junior guard/forward Chauncey Whitlow (Youngstown, Ohio/Woodrow Wilson) also scored 16 points off the bench and junior guard Craig Hannon (New Castle, Pa./Union) bucketed 15 markers.
Hannon became the 32nd Westminster men's basketball player to score his 1,000th career point during the game, as he now has 1,005 points for his career.
Westminster shot 40.3 percent (27-67) from the field compared to W&J's 51.0 percent (26-51), but the Titans attempted 18 more shots. The Presidents also held a 43-32 rebound advantage, but the Titans were able to induce 24 W&J turnovers while giving the ball away 16 times.
Jon Koch led the Presidents with 21 points, while Wahab Owolabi and Greg Stuckey bucketed 14 and 10 points, respectively.
The Titans led 43-37 at halftime before taking their first double-figure lead of the game with a 12-point, 53-41 lead when junior Jake Zatchok (Berlin Center, Ohio/Western Reserve) drained a 3-pointer.
The Presidents would whittle the lead down to six and eight points on separated runs, but The Titans took their largest lead of the game at 18 points with just over two minutes remaining before sealing the win.
Founded in 1852 and related to the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), Westminster College is ranked among national leaders in graduation rate performance, according to U.S. News Guide to America's Best Colleges, and is one of the most affordable national liberal arts colleges in Pennsylvania. Westminster is also honored as one of "The Best 361 Colleges" and "Best in the Northeast" by The Princeton Review, and was recognized by the Templeton Guide as a "Character Building College."
Nearly 1,600 students benefit from individualized attention from dedicated faculty, while choosing from 41 majors and nearly 100 organizations on the New Wilmington, Pa. campus.
