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Fairmont State 95, West Virginia State 87 | Final Stats
WHEELING, W.Va. -- Fairmont State held off a fiesty second half rally from West Virginia State and went on to win, 95-87, on Friday night at WesBanco Arena.

After an even first five minutes of play, Fairmont State took control with a 10-0 run that stretched an eight point lead to 18 with 10:05 left in the first half. The Falcons would take that margin into the locker room at 54-36.

FSU shot a sizzling 58 percent in the first half and drained seven three-pointers. For the game, the Falcons shot a season-best 56.7 percent from the field in the win (34-of-60) and their 11-of-22 performance from three-point range was the team's second-best showing of the season.

“It was really big giving us that confidence we needed,” Fairmont State sophomore Dale Bonner said of the team's fast start. “We're built for these type of moments. We trusted each other, made the one more pass each time, really played together and we made a lot of shots.”

“I thought Fairmont was the aggressor at the beginning of the game and for the whole first half really,” said West Virginia State coach Bryan Poore. “They shot the ball extremely well. They were the aggressor and we were on our heels the whole first half. I thought that really kind of set the tone for the game."

The Falcons stretched their lead to 23 early in the second half before West Virginia State started to mount a comeback. An 18-4 run brought the Yellow Jackets to within five with still 10:07 to play. WVSU got to within two points on two occassions, but each time Fairmont State's Cole Vonhandorf had an answer with a basket to keep Fairmont State in front. The Falcons would push the lead back to double digits before settling for the eight-point margin. 

“We tried to scramble the game up a little bit in the second half and when you do that you run the risk of losing a shooter,” Poore said. “It seems like Cole (Vonhandorf), whose percentage has not been great this year, always hits big shots against us. Last year at Fairmont he hit the shot to win the game. This year at our place we battled back, had it tight and he hit a three on the top that was contested. Then tonight he hit a couple of big ones. For whatever reason he comes up with big shots against the Yellow Jackets."

“They're a really good team,” Fairmont State head coach Tim Koenig said. “They were working their tails off to scrap and claw back into it. They hit some tough shots, but they also got quite a bit at the rim and especially on the offensive boards. You do your best to try and play it one possession at a time, but with that three-point line nothing is over. That three-point line changes things really quick.”

Bonner finished with 29 points on 10-of-18 shooting to go with six assists and five rebounds. Isaiah Sanders battled through foul trouble and finished with 22 points. Vonhandorf scored 20. 

Jeremiah Moore poured in a career-high 41 points, which tied for second-most in an MEC Tournament game with Glenville State's Sedric Nady in 2015. He also had 11 rebounds. Anthony Pittman had 15 points and 10 rebounds, and Glen Abram had 13.

Charleston 86, Wheeling 49 | Final Stats
By Duane Cochran for MountainEast.org
WHEELING, W.Va. – The University of Charleston came into the annual Mountain East Conference Tournament as the hottest team in the league.

Nothing changed Friday afternoon as the 12th-ranked Golden Eagles exerted their dominance early and often en route to an 86-49 victory over Wheeling University.

The win was the 14th in a row for UC which improved to 14-2. It also earned Charleston a berth in Saturday's semifinals at 5 p.m.

Wheeling finished its season with a 6-12 record.

The 37-point win by the Golden Eagles established a new record for the largest margin of victory in an MEC Tournament game.

“I think we were fortunate to play well today on both sides of the ball,” UC coach Dwaine Osborne said. “I thought we shot it well. I thought we defended well and I felt like we were really engaged. I thought our preparation was really good too because they run quite a bit of stuff.”

In the Golden Eagles' 13 previous wins this season Wheeling was one of two teams who kept it close with UC losing by just four points back on Feb. 8. Friday, Charleston was determined the second meeting between the squads wouldn't be that way.

“Charleston is a really good team,” first-year Wheeling coach Chris Richardson said. “They've won 14 games in a row. They have one first-team all-conference player and they have the coach of the year and they deserve all of the accolades that they've gotten.

“I thought they really imposed their will on us tonight from the beginning. I thought we let our offense affect our defense and vice versa. That was kinda the story of the game. All credit to them and to coach Osborne for having them ready to play.”

UC broke open a close game midway through the first half with an 11-1 run in a span of just 1:30 which helped the Golden Eagles take a 41-25 advantage at the break. Charleston then opened the second half with an impressive 14-1 surge in the first 3:53 to push its lead to 29 and the game was never close again.

“We talked about the first five minutes of the second half being super important,” Osborne said. “As a coach you could really do that with every game and every minute because it is super critical and it's imperative that you're playing well if you want to advance in a tournament and especially the Mountain East Conference Tournament.

“We came out and were super sharp. We shared the ball, took really good shots and when we can get good shots we feel like we can be pretty effective because we do have a lot of different players who can shoot the ball and make plays.”

Charleston's Seth O'Neal, who finished with 12 points, a game-high seven assists and five rebounds, says the big difference between Friday's game and the first meeting between the squads was the way UC defended.

“I would said defensively was the difference,” O'Neal said. “Obviously I respect them as a team, but they've got two really good players in Jordan Reid and Jarett Haines. They're two great scorers who average 20 or more per game. Our game plan was to try to make their other guys beat us. Not saying they couldn't, but we just wanted to make it tough on those two guys.

“I feel like we just really played great team defense and offensively we ran and shared the ball very well.”

Reid, who came into the game averaging 22.6 points per contest, was held to just 14 Friday which led Wheeling. He says UC's defense was tough this go round, but noted that he missed some early shots he shouldn't have.

“They did a good job helping on the inside today,” said Reid, who was 6-of-16 from the field. “They backed off of me and I missed a few open shots early. I'll live with those misses, but they did do a good job of bumping me on cuts and over the course of a game that gets you tired sometimes. I did play 39 minutes.

“They also did a better job today of boxing me out and keeping me off the boards. Credit goes to them. I always look forward to playing Charleston because you know it's going to be a physical game. They did do a good job of containing me and Jarett, though.”

Like they have all season the Golden Eagles employed a balanced attack which featured five double-figure scorers non of whom scored more than 14 points. Lamont McManus led UC with 14 points. The Golden Eagles also got 12 from O'Neal and 11 points apiece from Isaiah Gable, Shunta Wilson and Tyler Eberhart. Wilson also pulled down a game-high 10 rebounds to post a double-double.

As noted, Reid led Wheeling with 14 points and nine rebounds. He had 24 points and 12 boards in the first meeting between the schools. Haines was the only other Cardinal to reach double figures finishing with 11 points.

Wheeling shot just 31.7 percent for the game from the field (20-of-63), including a dismal 1-of-14 showing (7.1 percent) from 3-point range.

Charleston, on the other hand, connected on 55.2 percent of its shots (37-of-67) and had 18 assists on its 37 field goals. The Golden Eagles also outscored Wheeling 60-26 in the paint.

Charleston will be making its second straight appearance in the tournament semifinals and its third in the last four years. UC lost in the title game last season to West Liberty, 73-60.

West Liberty 102, Concord 68 | Final Stats
By Duane Cochran for Mountain East.org

WHEELING, W.Va. – West Liberty wasted little time avenging one of its three regular-season losses here Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the annual Mountain East Conference Tournament at WesBanco Arena.

The Hilltoppers, who lost to Concord 91-83 back on Jan. 20, used a dominating performance in the final 9:32 of the opening half to take control of its game with the Mountain Lions and cruise to a 102-68 victory. The 34-point win tied the record for the largest margin of victory in a tournament game.

“I thought it was a good team win for us,” West Liberty coach Ben Howlett said. “Obviously taking a loss down at their place earlier in the year left a sour taste in our mouths.

“Coming into this game we did some different things in our press and in our half-court defense and I think it affected them. I thought Malik Johnson was really good when we played them the first time, so it was a point of emphasis to try to take him out of the game and show him a lot of double teams. We also double-teamed Ethan Heller off of ball screens and I think that eventually fatigued him some.

“Again, overall it was a good team win. We got a lot of contributions from a lot of guys.”

The win, West Liberty's 10th in a row, improved the Hilltoppers to 14-3 and puts them in Saturday's semifinals at 8 p.m. against Glenville State. The Pioneers reached the semis by eliminating Notre Dame, 83-68, Friday.

Concord ended its season with a 9-8 record.

Leading 29-25 with 9:32 left in the first half, West Liberty used one of its signature blackout runs, a 15-0 spurt in a span of just 4:39, to open a 19-point advantage on the Mountain Lions. West Liberty ended the half outscoring Concord 26-8 in the last 9:32 to take a 55-33 lead at intermission.

“We knew we had to really up our intensity,” West Liberty guard Pat Robinson said. “This was a playoff game and we know how much it means to all of us. We sprinted out of every trap and had very active hands. Like I said we really wanted to win so we could play tomorrow and everyone just gave maximum effort.”

The Mountain Lions struggled immensely to put the ball in the basket in the final nine minutes of the opening half. Concord, which shot just 31.4 percent in the opening 20 minutes (11-of-35), was just 2-of-17 (11.8 percent) from the field during that final nine-minute span.

Concord senior guard/forward Malik Johnson says that stretch was frustrating for the Mountain Lions because they were getting good looks at shots.

“It was very frustrating knowing we had open looks that we should've knocked down,” Johnson said. “We should've capitalized on those. We've got to capitalize on those against teams like this. Maybe we could have gotten some easier ones at the basket, but I don't know.”

Concord coach Todd May says West Liberty never let his team get comfortable in the game in the half court.

“They made us uncomfortable the entire time today,” May said. “They never let us get in any type of rhythm. They mixed up their ball screen coverages and just did a good job of keeping us off balance.”

West Liberty's pressing defense was only able to turn Concord over 16 times in the game, but the Hilltoppers took advantage of those miscues outscoring the Mountain Lions, 21-8, in points off of turnovers.

West Liberty also shot 50 percent from the field (39-of-78), while holding Concord to a 35.8 performance (24-of-67).

The balanced Hilltoppers had three individuals turn in double-double performances in the game. West Liberty got 18 points and 11 rebounds off the bench from Marlon Moore, Jr., 18 points and 10 boards from Robinson and 16 points and 10 rebounds from Dalton Bolon.

Johnson led Concord with 18 points and five rebounds. The Mountain Lions, who were just 3-of-27 from 3-point range in the loss (11.1 percent), also got 14 points and five boards from Liam Evans and 12 points from Ethan Heller.

West Liberty, which won last season's tournament title, will be making its eighth straight MEC Tournament semifinal appearance. The Hilltoppers have never missed an MEC Tourney semifinal. West Liberty has played for four conference tournament championships since the Mountain East was formed in 2013-14 and has claimed two (2017 and 2020).

Glenville State 83, Notre Dame 68 | Final Stats
By Duane Cochran for Mountain East.org
WHEELING, W.Va. – All season long Glenville State's big three, John Williams, Hegel Augustin and Nick Edwards, have produced for the Pioneers and the results, for the most part, have been very positive.

Friday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference Tournament at WesBanco Arena that trio of Pioneers delivered again accounting for 66 of Glenville's 83 points and 36 of the Pioneers' 46 rebounds to help lead their team to an 83-68 victory over Notre Dame College.

Williams, a junior guard, poured in a game-high 31 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, dished out five assists and had a pair of blocks. Augustin, a senior guard, finished with 19 points, a game-high 16 rebounds, four assists and three steals, while Edwards, a junior guard, chipped in 16 points and seven boards.

“It's fun playing together,” Williams said. “Everyone on the team looks up to us three and expects a lot from us three. We lead by example. If we're playing hard, then the whole team is going to play hard, but if we're down I feel like the whole team is going to be down. Our mindset is to start is to start off early with a lot of energy to set the tone for others and get them to follow us.

“We trust our teammates. We'll find them and we know they can knock down shots too. It's fun playing that way. Today, things clicked for us.”

The victory improved Glenville State to 9-3 on the year and puts the Pioneers in Saturday's semifinals at 8 p.m. Notre Dame, meanwhile, ended its season at 8-9.

NDC junior guard Jordan Roland, who led his team with 25 points Friday, says it was a chore for he and his teammates guarding the Pioneers' talented trio.

“Those guys are very talented,” Roland said. “They're the big three and we were preparing all week for them. We wanted to try to contain them as much as possible, but sadly we couldn't do that today. We had the game plan going in to try to do that, but it didn't work out in our favor. Those guys are just very tough.”

After a back-and-forth first 17 minutes, which saw seven lead changes and five ties, the Pioneers exploded on a 10-2 run in the final 2:53 to open a 43-32 halftime lead.

In the first four minutes of the second half Glenville extended the margin to 14 before Notre Dame rallied and made it a two-point contest twice around the eight-minute mark.

“I was proud of our effort,” NDC coach Mark Richmond said. “Today was kind of a microcosm of our season. We didn't start out great. We got better and better as the year went on and that's what happened in this game.

“Playing a shortened season and not having any scrimmages and nonconference games it took us a while to get going, but finally once we got into February we were playing pretty well.

“This was the first time a lot of these guys were playing in a situation like this and we had to expend so much energy getting back into the game that we just couldn't get over the hump.”

Pioneer coach Justin Caldwell, whose team only played its third game Friday since Feb. 8, says striving for more consistency and being aggressive after the Falcons closed to within two helped his squad re-establish control of the contest.

“It's a game of runs. We talk about that all of the time,” Caldwell said. “Rust has something to do with it as well. We go through spurts in games where we're hot and cold and hot and cold. They went to a little bit of that 1-2-2 trap at half court and we were sort of stagnant instead of attacking it to score.

“We called a timeout, said you've got to get someone to the middle of the floor. We told them be aggressive. That's the way we play. If teams press us we need to punish them when they do that and that's what we got back to doing.”

After Notre Dame pulled within two at 63-61, Glenville closed out the game's final eight minutes with a 20-7 run to post the 15-point win. No less than 15 of the Pioneers' final 20 points came from Edwards, Augustin and Williams.

Notre Dame got 13 points from Tyland Crawford, nine points from John Godinez and eight points and eight rebounds from Michael Sampson.

Glenville State will be making its first semifinal round appearance in the tournament since 2015 when the Pioneers claimed their first and only Mountain East Conference Tournament championship.