WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College men's basketball team (6-2, 1-0) rolled to an 86-71 victory over the Chatham Cougars (3-3, 0-1). The Wednesday night conference opener was a rematch of the 2025 PAC Championship game.
Matthew Carte (Ravenswood, W.Va./Ravenswood) led the Presidents offensively, scoring a game-high 21 points. The junior guard shot 50% from the field (7-for-14).
Quinton Burlenski (Bridgeport, Ohio/Central Catholic) and
Cameron Rowell (Murrysville, Pa./Franklin Regional) each scored 15 points on the night. Rowell finished two rebounds away from a double-double.
The Presidents jumped out to an early 13-6 lead in the first half, aided by a three-pointer by
Nick Sukernek (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair).
Alex Acosta (Acworth, Ga./North Cobb) completed an and-one play to extend the W&J lead to eight, 20-12. A Rowell paint layup gave W&J its first double figure lead of the game with four minutes remaining.
Rowell scored a final seconds layup at the end of the opening half in the paint off a
Nathan Plotner (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South) steal, taking a 37-28 lead into the break.
The Presidents opened the second half with a balanced back and forth with the Cougars, slightly growing the W&J advantage to 11. Carte scored 10 points in the opening six minutes off action through driving layups and trips to the charity stripe. Burlenski and Carte pushed the lead to 20 points with seven minutes remaining in the half, trading three pointers down the stretch.
The Cougars managed to cut into the Presidents lead for a brief period before the Presidents closed the door in the final minutes of action.
Josh Chambers (Hanover, Md./Indian Creek) concluded the scoring on the night for the team with a 1-for-2 trip to the free throw line, 86-71.
Despite losing the rebounding battle, W&J controlled the tempo of the game through their aggressive full-court press. The Presidents held strong advantage in points off of turnovers (16-9), fast break points (13-5), points in the paint (44-28) and points off the bench (29-14).
W&J returns to action on Saturday (Dec. 6) to continue conference play with a road matchup with the Franciscan Barons. Opening tipoff I scheduled for a 3:00 p.m. start.
