January 14, 2012
Grove City holds off Waynesburg
WAYNESBURG, Pa. -- The Grove City College men's basketball team improved to 3-4 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference Saturday afternoon by earning a 56-53 victory over Waynesburg at the Yellow Jackets' Rudy Marisa Field House.
Senior center Kris Verderber (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) paced Grove City with 15 points while senior guard Brett Matson (Wexford, Pa./Pine-Richland) added 10 points, a game-high nine rebounds and a game-high five assists. Matson hit two free throws with 3.9 seconds left to give Grove City (7-8 overall) its three-point lead.
Grove City led 48-41 in the second half but Waynesburg (3-13, 0-7 PAC) countered with a 9-0 run. However, freshman guard Mitch Marmelstein (San Juan Capistrano, Calif./St. Margaret's) drilled a three-pointer that put Grove City up 51-50. Waynesburg's Casey Hope answered with a layup but Matson's three-pointer with four minutes left gave Grove City a 54-52 lead.
Waynesburg's Aaron Cromwell split two free throws with 3:35 left, cutting the lead to one. Neither team scored again until Matson's late free throws.
Grove City shot 20 of 43 (47 percent) from the field for the game while limiting Waynesburg to a 19-for-54 (35 percent) effort. Eleven of Waynesburg's 19 field goals came from behind the three-point line. Waynesburg outrebounded Grove City 31-28. Grove City had just 12 turnovers and Waynesburg committed only nine.
Freshman guard Josh Patterson (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) added nine points, including a pair of second-half three-pointers for Grove City, which led 32-31 at halftime.
Lou Galante led Waynesburg with 20 points.
Eight of Grove City's last 14 games have been decided by four points or less. Two of the other six games have gone to overtime. Grove City is now 6-5 away from home this year.
The Wolverines conclude the first half of the conference schedule Wednesday night by hosting conference leader Thiel (7-0 PAC) at 8 p.m.
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