UVa-Wise 89, Glenville State 83 (OT) | Final Stats | Postgame: UVa-Wise | Glenville State
By Duane Cochran for MountainEast.org
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- It took an extra five minutes, but for UVa-Wise it was well worth it.
The seventh-seeded Cavaliers outscored 10th-seeded Glenville State 17-11 in overtime to win their first-ever Mountain East Conference Men's Basketball Tournament game here Wednesday evening at the Charleston Civic Center.
The victory, the sixth in the last eight games for UVa-Wise, improved the Cavaliers to 14-15 and earned them a spot in Friday's quarterfinal round against second-seeded Wheeling Jesuit (23-5) at noon.
Glenville State, on the other hand, ended its season with an 8-21 mark.
The two teams spent the first half trading baskets and the lead and when the dust settled after the first 20 minutes the Cavaliers held a slim 36-34 advantage.
Early in the second half, however, UVa-Wise began to exert its dominance over the Pioneers. Led by first-team All-MEC forward Taiwo Badmus, who had 12 rebounds, but just six points in the opening half, the Cavaliers outscored Glenville 24-11 in the first 8:06 of the final half to open a 60-45 lead with 11:54 left in regulation. Badmus, who finished with a game-high 30 points and 14 rebounds, scored 14 of the Cavaliers' first 24 points in the second half.
“I had to be patient, especially during the beginning of the game because my shots weren't falling so I tried to find a way to impact the game in other ways,” Badmus said. “Coach was telling me to let the game come to me and that's what I did. In the second half my shots started to fall. I'm just glad we got the win.”
The Cavaliers' lead remained in double figures until Glenville's Andrew Johnson made a layup with 4:41 to play which trimmed the deficit to eight. UVa-Wise got the lead back to 12 just 34 seconds later, but in the final four minutes of regulation the Pioneers outscored the Cavaliers 14-2 to force overtime.
“We're very disappointed that we lost, but as I told the guys in the locker room I'm very proud of the way they fought back and forced overtime,” GSC coach Stephen Dye said. “This is two games back-to-back where we faced big deficits and fought back. We were down 16 to (West Virginia) Wesleyan and fought back and came away with a win and we were down 15 tonight and found a way to force overtime.”
The Cavaliers started overtime with 3-pointers from Chance Sheffey, who finished with 19 points, and Badmus to open a 78-72 lead and the Pioneers could never recover from that.
“We have to control the game better down the stretch,” UVa-Wise coach Blake Mellinger said. “We had a good working margin there for much of the second half, but with about five minutes to go we had a few bad offensive possessions which allowed them to claw themselves back into it.
“I thought Chance hit a huge three there early in overtime to get us going, but more than anything we found a way to make plays and get it done. We got some crucial stops in overtime.”
Glenville was able to cut the Cavaliers' lead to just two at 83-81 on a three-point play by Darhius Nunn with 1:06left in overtime. However, in game's final 34 seconds UVa-Wise used a 6-of-6 performance at the foul line to outscore the Pioneers 6-2 to seal the victory.
“We started out slow in the second half,” Nunn said. “Badmus, he's a good player. He doesn't miss much. You think he's going to give you one and it still goes in. Honestly we tried to contain him and then we fought back at the end and got it to overtime.
“In overtime we started slow again and it hurt us. If we had come out from the jump and got a lead it could've been different. That was the big turning point. We fought, but we just came up short.”
The Cavaliers also got 15 points, nine assists, six steals and five rebounds from point guard Michal Seals. His six steals tied a single-game MEC Tournament game record and his nine assists were the fourth most in a league tournament game. Yesid Mosquera-Perea chipped in 10 points for UVa-Wise.
Nunn led Glenville with 21 points, seven assists and six boards. The Pioneers also got 17 points from Jon Dunmyer, 10 points and a game-high 15 rebounds from Brooks Ely and 10 points, six rebounds and five assists from Johnson.
UVa-Wise and Wheeling Jesuit split their regular season meetings. The Cardinals won 86-72 at Wise on Jan. 13, but the Cavaliers prevailed 81-78 on the road in Wheeling on Feb. 3.
West Virginia State 110, West Virginia Wesleyan 76 | Final Stats | Postgame: WVSU | WVWC
CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- West Virginia State didn't quite look like a team mired in an eight-game losing streak ahead of the Mountain East Conference Tournament. In fact, the Yellow Jackets put together a masterful performance on Wednesday night rolling to a 110-76 win over West Virginia Wesleyan in the first round of the MEC Tournament.
The Yellow Jackets (13-15) set tournament records for points (110), steals (16), field goals made (42), field goal percentage (64.6) and margin of victory (34).
"It was phenomenal -- best total game we've played all year," said WVSU head coach Bryan Poore. "I thought our intensity was right on edge, we scored out of our defense well which got us some confidence going and we started making some shots."
Pat Johnson-Agwu helped lead the hot start for the Yellow Jackets with 22 of his game-high 32 points coming in just the first half. Johnson-Agwu, a first team All-MEC selection, finished with 32 points and set a MEC Tournament record with 15 field goals made. He also pulled down six rebounds and had six steals.
West Virginia State led 55-34 at the break after shooting 71 percent from the field (22-of-31). Jahlen Greene led the charge in the second half with four three-pointers and 12 points as the Yellow Jackets continued to stretch their margin.
Roberty Fomby added 16 points on 6-of-8 shooting with six rebounds and four assists. Glen Abram added 12 points after connecting on all four his attempts from three-point range.
Luka Petrovic had 16 points to lead West Virginia Wesleyan (7-22). Kam Cooper added 13 and Aaron Ariri finished with 10.
West Virginia State's reward for its first round victory is top-seeded West Liberty on Friday night at 6 p.m.
"They're hard to simulate," Poore said. "We press and run, but geez, they press and run. We know what they're about. Their three-point shot is tremendous, but I don't think that's what kilss you. What really breaks your back is when they get layups and second-shot opportunities."