NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Westminster men's basketball team won its second-straight Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) contest in a double-digit margin as the Titans won 91-66 over Bethany at home Saturday afternoon.
"I told the guys our keys are rebounding the basketball, playing defense and limiting turnovers," said 10
th-year head coach
Kevin Siroki. "Those are the three keys that will be with us the rest of the year. If we take care of that stuff then we are going to put ourselves in a good position for where we want to be at the end of the year."
Westminster (8-5, 5-2 PAC) took its first double-digit lead (34-24) when junior
Jordan Zupko (Mineral Ridge, OH / Mineral Ridge) made a fastbreak-layup at the 8:13 mark. The Titans led, 49-33, at halftime and maintained their double-digit lead for the remainder of the contest.
Four Titans scored in double-figures, led by senior
Daniel Ritter (North Lima, OH / South Range) who registered a game-high 20 points.
Senior
Josh Hutcherson (Uniontown, OH / Uniontown Lake) posted the second double-double of his career with 16 points and 12 rebounds (tying a game- and career-high). Hutcherson also had a game-high two blocks.
"My teammates found me and they were able to get me the ball," said Hutcherson. "We got great leaders out here and, in times where we needed it in the second half, pulling the rebounds down are big for the team. That is what I like to do for us. This was a big win for us, we needed this. We had to get our feet back under us. We really focused on defense tonight and we did that."
Sophomore
Reese Leone (Beloit, OH / West Branch) scored 19 points, to go along with a game-high four steals. Classmate
Andrew Clark (New Middletown, OH / Springfield Local) registered his second-straight double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds. Senior
Anthony Ritter (North Lima, OH / South Range) dished out a game-high six assists (tying a career-best).
The Titans outshot Bethany 51.5% (34-66) to 34.4% (22-64) and outrebounded the Bison, 47-34
A total of 13 Titans saw action tonight.
"It is great, nothing better than game experience," added Siroki. "You cannot get that in practice. That game experience is way better than practice. I am happy that the guys that came off the bench all did well, it was great to get (junior) Tyler (James) back and we are looking forward to Monday night. We will go from there."
Westminster will host Waynesburg Monday, Jan. 17, starting at 8 p.m.
