NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson men's basketball team jumped out to a 10-3 lead to open play before eventually bowing out of the Presidents' Athletic Conference tournament at Westminster, 76-63.
 
The Titans got on the board first, just six seconds into the game, with a three-pointer by Jason Pilarski in the corner. The Presidents responded with a 10-0 run to open up the 10-3 lead 3:30 into play. Gianni Buarne tied the game at 3-3 with a triple at 19:08 and then gave W&J the lead with a layup 32 seconds later. Another layup by Joel Garcia bumped the margin to four and Joe Satira capped the run with a three-pointer at 16:30.
 
Westminster responded, however, with a 17-2 run to take a 20-12 lead with 12:22 to play in the first half. W&J used a 6-2 jaunt to get back within four, 22-18, but the Titans again used a spurt, this time 19-7, to pull away as the first half closed down before three Buarne free throws capped the scoring in the half and sent W&J into the locker room trailing, 41-28.
 
In the second half, the Titans used an 8-0 run to build the lead to a game-high 21 points, but the Presidents responded with an 11-2 run over a 4:24 span on five-of-eight shooting. The hosts again built the lead to 20 points with under two minutes left, but W&J scored the final seven points on an Adam Joyce three-pointer and back-to-back layups by Buarne.
 
Buarne led all players in scoring a career-high 23 points, topping his previous best of 22 points. The rookie finished 9-of-18 from the field. Brian Graytok also reached double digits in finishing with 19 points.  Brian Lindquist led the Presidents with 12 boards.