WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The Washington & Jefferson men's basketball team forced 32 turnovers and scored 50 second half points en route to a 75-52 victory over the visiting Muskingum Muskies in a non-conference game Thursday evening at Salvitti Family Gymnasium. 

The home-opening win improves the Presidents to 3-1 overall while the Muskies drop to 0-3 overall. 

The Presidents struggled to convert offensively at times during the first half but built a 25-21 lead after 20 minutes. The Presidents were paced by nine first-half points off the bench by Kaden DiVito (Coraopolis, Pa./Cornell). 

W&J turned up the defensive pressure in the second half as they overwhelmed the visiting Muskies. Isaiah Langston (Coraopolis, Pa./Cornell) scored the opening basket of the second half and then added another after a steal. Another quick turnover led to a foul on a three-point attempt by J.R. Mazza (Bridgeport, W.Va./University), who converted all three attempts to strengthen the W&J lead to 32-21 just 1:08 into the second half. 

Four straight free throws by Brandon Jakiela (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) and Dirk Daniels (Phillipsburg, N.J./Blair Academy) swelled the lead to 49-29 at the 13:19 mark. A little later, Alex Acosta (Acworth, Ga./North Cobb) recorded his first collegiate points with a layup that made it 61-35 at the 8:40 mark of the second half. Ryan McCort (Saint Clairsville, Ohio/Saint Clairsville) tallied his first collegiate basket on a fastbreak layup with 6:06 to play. The McCort field goal pushed the W&J lead to 71-42. 

The Red and Black outscored the Muskies in several key categories: points off turnovers (38-6), bench points (41-22) and points in the paint (46-28).

Three Presidents scored in double figures as Jakiela (12), Mazza (12) and Langston (10). Mitchell filled the stat sheet with team highs in rebounds (6), assists (6) and steals (6). Daniels finished with six points, five assists and four rebounds. 

W&J converted 41.3 percent of its field goal attempts despite only making 1-of-16 from three-point range. The Presidents connected on 22-of-31 free throw attempts. 

The Presidents travel to Thiel College (1-3, 0-1 PAC) for a Presidents' Athletic Conference game on Saturday, Nov. 19. Start time is scheduled for 3 p.m.