WASHINGTON, Pa. – The Washington & Jefferson College men's basketball team (0-1) dropped its season opener in the Salvitti Family Gymnasium against Lancaster Bible (1-0), 105-69.
Nathan Plotner (Parkersburg, W.Va./Parkersburg South) led the Presidents offensively with a 13-point performance, moving seven points away from joining the 1,000-point scorers club at W&J. Plotner also had 12 rebounds to begin the season with a double-double.
Julian Semplice (Pittsburgh, Pa./Chartiers Valley),
Matthew Carte (Ravenswood, W.Va./Ravenswood) and
Harrison Sowers (Irwin, Pa./Hempfield) all had 11 points on the night. Carte led the team in assists with five.
Parker Schramm (Williamstown, W.Va./Williamstown) had a game high 15 blocks.
The Chargers opened the contest with a 16-0 run that was snapped at the 16:11 mark thanks to a Plotner layup. Lancaster Bible elevated the score to 21-2 before the Presidents entered a run of their own by way of a 13-point swing.
Nick Sukernek (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair), Sowers and Carte all completed three-point plays for W&J to propel the team through the run. An alley-oop set up by Carte to Plotner capped the swing, 21-15.
Lancaster Bible responded and quickly regained a double figure advantage, 33-22.
Torrien Perkins (Pittsburgh, Pa./Obama Academy) and Sowers provided a brief spark, adding three points each to reduce the Lancaster Bible lead to five, 33-28. The Pioneers responded with another 16-point run, taking a 52-32 lead into the half.
The Chargers kept their foot on the gas entering the second half, maintaining a double figure lead for the remainder of regulation. Sowers and Semplice helped bring the lead to 12 five minutes into the half but couldn't maintain any momentum as Lancaster Bible trotted to a 105-69 victory.
W&J held a slight edge in second chance points (15-14). Lancaster Bible held strong advantages in fast break points (44-12), bench scoring (54-23) and points in the paint (56-36). The Chargers also won the rebounding battle (49-40) and managed to shoot 53.8% from the floor as the Presidents shot 33.3% on the night.
Men's basketball will look to get back on track at the Heidelberg Classic on Friday (Nov. 13) as they kickoff that tournament with a meeting with host Heidelberg. Opening tipoff is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. start.
