NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Westminster men's basketball team won, 78-61, over Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) foe Saint Vincent on Senior Night Wednesday.
"We knew they played zone so we had to get the ball to Josh (Hutcherson) and Ty (James) who had good games for us," said head coach
Kevin Siroki. "We had to get the ball into the middle of the zone and play good man-to-man defense."
Westminster (13-8, 10-5 PAC) took its first double-digit lead when junior
Tyler James (Youngstown, OH / Warren JFK) excited the crowd with a dunk five minutes to go in the first half. The Titans, who never trailed in the game, maintained their double-digit lead for the rest of the half and the contest.
Senior
Josh Hutcherson (Uniontown, OH / Uniontown Lake) registered the fourth double-double of his career with 17 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
"We knew coming out that our motto this whole season was to protect our home court and we did that," said Hutcherson. "We were playing hard and wanted to outwork our opponents. We are trying to out-work everybody we play and get back on track, and we did that tonight."
Senior
Daniel Ritter (North Lima, OH / South Range) led all scorers with 20 points, to go along with eight rebounds. Junior
Tyler James (Youngstown, OH / Warren JFK) registered 19 points. Senior
Anthony Ritter (North Lima, OH / South Range) also scored in double-figures with 10 points, while grabbing seven boards and pocketing a game-high five steals. Sophomore
Andrew Clark (New Middletown, OH / Springfield Local) added nine points. Sophomore
Reese Leone (Beloit, OH / West Branch) dished out a game-best seven assists.
"It was great to come out on senior night and get a W," said D. Ritter. "We just love playing with each other. Our defense was getting better throughout the whole game. It was really enjoyable." Brother and fellow classmate A. Ritter added, "It was also a great win and it is going to lead us into the tournament. We are an unselfish team, so we do not care who scores. If Dan is hot or Josh is hot, we go to them, we find them and that is our priorities as an unselfish team."
Westminster outrebounded Saint Vincent (6-12, 5-9 PAC), 41-30.
The Titans are scheduled to play three-straight road PAC contests to close out the regular season, starting with Waynesburg on Saturday, Feb. 12 at 8:30 p.m.
