Beaver prepares for W&J's Second Annual Washington Area Credit Union Tournament

WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson College men’s basketball team hosts the second annual Washington Area Credit Union Tournament this weekend at the Henry Memorial Center. 

W&J takes on Penn State-Beaver at 7:00 pm on Saturday following the tournament’s opening game featuring Hood and Ohio Northern, which begins at 5:00 pm. The championship game takes place on Sunday at 3:00 pm, while the consolation game starts at 1:00 pm. 

The Presidents and Penn State-Beaver are meeting for the first time in history, while the Blazers and Polar Bears will be facing each other for the second time. ONU downed Hood 72-67 at the Gettysburg Tip-Off Tournament last season. W&J owns a 2-0 mark all-time against Hood and dropped its only previous matchup with Ohio Northern during the 1986-87 season. 

The Presidents were selected to finish fifth in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference preseason coach’s poll. W&J returns four of its top six scorers from last year’s squad led by senior guard Zach Bellhy (McDonald, Pa./Fort Cherry). Bellhy topped the conference in scoring (19.2 ppg) and paced the Presidents in three-pointers (49), free throw percentage (.820), steals (30) and blocked shots (12). 

Four-time defending Pennsylvania State University Athletic Conference champion Penn State-Beaver has posted at least 20 victories during each of the last four seasons under the guidance of Head Coach Marcess Williams. The Lions averaged 84.5 points per game and won 11-of-14 road games a year ago. Senior guard Nick Miller netted 14.3 points and dished out 4.5 assists per game to lead the team. 

Hood is coming off a 16-win season, its highest victory total in five years. Junior Cameron Cook will lead the Blazers’ offense. Cook has been Hood’s leading scorer during his first two collegiate seasons, while starting all 53 games. Over half of Cook’s baskets (66-126) came from beyond the three-point arc. 

First-year Head Coach Kevin Byrne inherits an Ohio Northern team that returns seven of its top eight scorers. Junior guard Branden Rushton led the Polar Bears with 13.3 points per game, while classmate Jared Horstman average 8.1 points along with 4.4 rebounds. Ohio Northern is coming off back-to-back .500 seasons and was selected to finish seventh in the 10-team Ohio Athletic Conference. 

All four of the tournament games will have live stats (http://www2.washjeff.edu/Athletics/xlive.htm) available on the W&J athletics web site (http://WashJeffSports.TV). In addition to live stats, both of Sunday’s games will have live video coverage.