Washington & Jefferson swept the Presidents Athletic Conference basketball championships Saturday. The W&J women rolled past Westminster to start the afternoon. The W&J men rallied from nine points down with 14 minutes to play to beat Chatham for the second time in 10 days. The sweep is the first in the school’s history.
Aleena McDaniel came off the bench to score 11 points for the the top-seeded women. Sarah Berardelli also had 11 for W&J. Victoria Koeck added 10. The Presidents led for all but three minutes in the middle of the second quarter, a stretch that was answered by a 6-0 run to close the half. W&J rattled off a dozen straight points in the middle of the third to put the game away then nailed seven of 8 free throws in the fourth to close it out. The PAC championship is the 5th for the women’s basketball program at W&J, the first since 2006.
Plagued by turnovers and poor shot selection, the W&J men found themselves down 10 points with 13 minutes to play in the first half but rallied back late to close to within six at the break. Chatham pushed the lead back to nine points with 14 minutes to play but W&J held the Cougars to 13 points the rest of the way. Five Presidents finished the game in double figures, led by Okikola Agbale 18 off the bench. Kyran Mitchell, who was called for four offense fouls, measured himself enough to stay in the game and finish with 13 points. JR Mazza scored 12, all in the second half. Nick Gearhart added 11 and Isaiah Langston had 10 including a pair of foul shots in the final minute to clinch the win. The title is the W&J men’s first since 1995 and their 10th overall. Only Bethany (14) has more.
Both teams have earned the League’s automatic berth into the NCAA tournament. The brackets will be released Monday afternoon with first-round games due to be played Friday at campus sites.