#5 Glenville State 83, #1 West Liberty 68
Final Stats
CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Fifth-seeded Glenville State turned in arguably its best all-around performance of the season and knocked off top-seeded and No. 4 ranked West Liberty, 83-68, here Saturday evening in the semifinals of the Mountain East Conference Basketball Tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.
The victory halted a 10-game losing streak for the Pioneers against the Hilltoppers dating back to 2009. It also improved Glenville to 21-10 overall and earns the Pioneers a berth in Sunday's conference tournament title game at 3:30 p.m.
"I'm very proud of these guys," said GSC coach Stephen Dye. "We came in tonight with a game plan we felt could work and they executed it perfectly.
"One thing we knew we had to do was rebound the ball and we did that. We out-rebounded them by three. We also were able to get stops and take care of the basketball. We held them to 68 points. With the way West Liberty can score that's impressive. Our guys fought hard and played with a lot of heart, passion and energy."
Indeed the Pioneers did. Glenville spread the floor against West Liberty, was patient with the ball and attacked the rim from all angles to near-perfection. The Pioneers were 30-of-56 from the field (53.6 percent), including a 17-of-30 (56.7 percent) performance in the second half and scored 50 of their 83 points in the paint – 30 of which came in the second half.
"Our guards, Reggie Williams and Sedric Nady, knew they had to be strong with the ball," said the Pioneers' Donte Morales, who finished with 14 points, six rebounds and four assists. "Really we all did. We all were focused. We knew that a bump was going to come from them at some point, we took it and capitalized on every driving lane we got."
Williams led Glenville with 21 points, 14 of which came in the second half. The balanced Pioneers also got 18 points and eight rebounds from Brett Morris and 17 points from Nady.
The loss snapped a 12-game winning streak for West Liberty and dropped the Hilltoppers to 26-3 on the year. West Liberty, however, will receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional which will get under way next weekend.
Against Glenville, the Hilltoppers, who shoot over 51 percent from the field as a team for the season, endured their worst shooting performance of the year. West Liberty was just 26-of-69 from the floor (37.7 percent), including a 6-of-25 showing (24.0 percent) from 3-point range.
"No one needs to tell me when we're beaten pretty bad and we were beaten pretty bad today in a lot of different areas," said West Liberty coach Jim Crutchfield, who won't be taking his team to the championship game of a league tournament for the first time since 2009. "We were out-worked on loose balls, they played smarter and better defense than we did and that's to their credit. I think they played with a little more energy than we did and there's no excuse for that.
"It was not a good day to be a Hilltopper, but the bottom line for us is our season is not over. We will have the chance to play again in the regional."
Glenville took the lead late in the first half and never relinquished it. The Pioneers led 35-28 at the break and outscored West Liberty 21-11 in the first 9:26 of the second half to extend their margin to 17. After that West Liberty never got any closer than 12.
"Our program is built off of intensity and we certainly didn't play with enough intensity tonight," said West Liberty's C.J. Hester, who finished with six points and nine rebounds. "We didn't give maximum effort and that's our fault. We have no excuse for that."
Only two Hilltoppers reached double figures in the scoring column. Guards Devin Hoehn and Joe Lococo finished with 15 and 14 points respectively. Seger Bonifant, the MEC's Player of the Year, who scored 44 points in a victory over the Pioneers earlier this season was held to a season-low four points. His previous low scoring total for the season was 10 points.
#2 Fairmont State 73, #6 Wheeling Jesuit 63
Final Stats
Fairmont State Postgame
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Fairmont State advanced to the Mountain East Conference championship game with a 73-63 win over Wheeling Jesuit on Saturday afternoon.
The Falcons (21-9) will take on rival Glenville State at 3:30 p.m. Fans can follow all of the action live here.
Fairmont State used a balanced attack with Nick Harney and Jamel Morris each scoring 16 points apiece. Caleb Davis was big for FSU scoring 15 points off the bench, including 10 key points in a six-minute stretch that helped Fairmont State hold off a WJU run.
"I knew coming into the game that they were going to sag off me, so when I threw it in to Nick (Harney), so it way my thought to cut to the basket and stay aggressive," Davis said.
Wheeling Jesuit (21-10) had a 39-28 edge on the glass, with 15 of those coming on the offensive end. However, the Cardinals shot 36 percent from the field and just 13 percent from three-point range. Pat Moseh led WJU with 20 points and Haywood Highsmith scored 13 points to go with 12 rebounds.
"This was a very, very hard fought game, a very physical game," said head coach Jerrod Calhoun. "Our game plan was to take away the three -- we did a tremendous job. I love my team right now and I think we're very dangerous."
"The two keys in this game was holding them to 2-for 15 from three-point, and Caleb's play down the stretch," Harney said. "Caleb just gave us a lot of relief because it was tough for us to get isolation plays, so when Caleb has it going it makes us so much easier for everyone else."