West Liberty, Glenville State Set for MEC Men's
Semifinals
West Liberty 84, Davis & Elkins 74
By Bryan Dillon
For Mountain East.org
WHEELING, W.Va. – Top-seeded West Liberty flexed its muscle in the lane and on the boards to defeat eighth-seeded Davis & Elkins, 84-74, in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference tournament presented by The Health Plan on Friday evening at WesBanco Arena.
After averaging 106 points per game in the two regular-season meetings against the Senators, West Liberty (25-4) had to rely more on its defense and rebounding in this matchup. With the victory, the Hilltoppers earned their 13th appearance in the semifinals of the MEC tournament all-time, having appeared in the semifinals every year in the league tournament's history.
Offensive rebounding and turnovers played the pivotal role on the evening for West Liberty as they forced Davis & Elkins into 25 turnovers, which were converted into 26 points. The Hilltoppers also pulled down 26 offensive rebounds, which resulted in 24 second-chance points.
“That was a classic March Madness game,” asserted West Liberty Head Coach Michael Lamberti. “ It was physical as can be, and it went back and forth with a lot of lead changes. I thought we got off a good start … We executed on the offensive end late in the second half and forced a couple of turnovers with our press and finally made some free throws down the stretch to hold on to for the win.”
Davis & Elkins (10-20) finished the game with better shooting numbers than West Liberty. The Senators shot 42.6 percent from the field, 42.9 percent from three, and 82.6 percent from the foul line, while the Hilltoppers shot 37.5 percent from the field, 20 percent from three, and 63.6 percent from the foul line. WLU was able to overcome the shooting disparity by finishing the game with 26 more shots than D&E.
West Liberty placed four players in double-digits: Jamie Muldowney (19), Myles Montgomery (15), Peter Lattos (14), and Hayden Abdullah (11). Muldowney and Lattos led the team with 9 rebounds each. Davis & Elkins also had four players score over ten points. Matthew Gray (18), Nnadozie Okoroji (16), Vegas Evans (12), and Darrius Roach (10).
With the score tied at 15-15 with 13:02 left in the first half, West Liberty went on a 13-3 run led by Lattos and Abdullah, who each tallied two baskets during the run to give West Liberty a 28-18 advantage. The Hilltoppers' largest lead (13) of the half came after a Terrance Pankey layup with 4:51 remaining.
The Senators closed the deficit to four at the end of the half with their best run of the half. D&E scored seven in a row, capped by a three-pointer from Matthew Gray. Vegas Evans added a free throw at the end of the period, making the halftime score 42-38 in favor of West Liberty.
“The message at halftime was that this is March,” said Hilltopper Coach Michael Lamberti. “They are not going to go away, and we are going to get their best fight.”
Evans and the Senators did just that, continuing the momentum from the end of the first half into the second half with five straight points to take the lead. This set the stage for the second half, which would see the lead change hands nine times and be tied three times. With 15:16 left in the game, D&E had gone on a 15-6 run at the start of the half to take its largest lead of the game, 53-48.
Myles Montgomery helped flip the advantage back to the Hilltoppers, scoring six points during a 13-2 stretch to give West Liberty a 61-55 lead. Davis & Elkins responded with a 10-2 run capped by back-to-back threes from Okoroji and Roach to retake the lead.
West Liberty wrestled back the lead for good after a layup and a pair of free throws from Jamie Muldowney. The Hilltoppers closed out the final 5:06 of the contest on a 15-5 run.
“What a basketball game that was,” remarked Davis & Elkins head coach Daniel Harris. “It was very physical and just a really good college basketball game. [I give] respect to West Liberty; they have always been good, and they brought a great environment to the game.
“I am proud of our guys,” Harris continued. “When you look at [West Liberty] shooting 37 percent and holding them to 84 points in the game, I am proud of that defensive effort. We just turned the ball over at the wrong times down the stretch that helped them extend their lead.”
The Hilltoppers advance to the semifinals on Saturday, March 7, at 6:00 p.m. at WesBanco Arena. Top overall seed West Liberty will face the winner of fourth-seeded Charleston and fifth-seeded Glenville State.
Glenville State 79, Charleston 76
By Bryan Dillon
For Mountain East.org
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WHEELING, W.Va. – A wire-to-wire effort led fifth-seeded Glenville State past fourth-seeded Charleston, 79-76, in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference tournament presented by The Health Plan Friday evening at WesBanco Arena.
Glenville State (18-12) raced out to an early lead and never trailed en route to its 5th semifinal appearance in the MEC tournament. The Pioneers’ defense held Charleston (19-9) to just 23 points in the first half, their lowest of the season, on 8-of-30 shooting and a field goal percentage of 26.7.
“The first half was probably the best defensive effort we had this year,” said Glenville State head coach Bob Bolen. “We knew that they were the number one three-point percentage shooting team in the country, and I thought our defense did a good job holding them. I think a lot of it came down to our defensive pressure … I thought it was a tremendous job defensively.”
Each member of the starting lineup for Glenville State finished with double-digits offensively and accounted for all of the scoring output for the Pioneers. Elijah Redfern led the way with a team-high 23 points, while Don Colon-Lewis added 18 points. Prince Mosengo pitched in with a 12-point and 11-rebound double-double.
Charleston’s Braden Chapman led all scorers with 27 points. Thomas Hailey (15) and Ben Nicol (11) joined Chapman in double-digits. Matthew Shelton led the Golden Eagles in rebounding with nine rebounds on the night.
While Charleston looked to find its shooting stroke, Glenville State jumped out to a 19-6 lead with 12:45 remaining in the half following a 10-0 scoring run led by Redfern and Mosengo. After a 12-1 stretch, the Pioneers held their largest lead of the half at 33-13 with 4:31 to play in the half.
Charleston set up the opportunity to attempt a comeback in the second half by closing out the first half on an 8-0 run thanks to a three from Chapman and a driving layup and three from Nicol to close the deficit to 36-23 at the break. The 8-0 run helped break a stretch of 11 missed shots for the Golden Eagles.
The second half started with the teams trading the first six baskets, before Glenville State took advantage of an 8-0 spurt to grab their largest lead of the game at 21 points, 51-30. From that point, Charleston started to chip away at the lead, thanks in part to a pair of 8-0 runs. The second of which cut the Pioneers’ lead to 60-54 following a three-pointer from Matthew Shelton.
The Golden Eagles continued to cut into the lead, getting it as low as four points when Braden Chapman hit a three with 12 seconds remaining. Two free throws extended the lead for Glenville State back to six points, which limited the impact of Charleston’s three-pointer at the final horn.
Glenville State finished the game shooting 44.1 percent from the field on 26-of-59 shooting and 39.3 percent from long distance. Charleston recovered from their difficult shooting first half, by shooting 60.7 percent from the field and 56.3 percent from three in the second half. The Golden Eagles finished the game 43.1 percent from the field. The foul line was a big difference, with the GSU shooting 80 percent from the foul line, while UC shot only 56.5 at the charity stripe on 23 attempts.
“I was proud of our guys for fighting until the end, it says a lot about our guys,” stated Charleston head coach James Long. “It was not our night offensively in every regard; at the rim, from three, and free throws. I thought our team fought so I am really proud of them … I think the big number is 10 missed free throws and 13 offensive rebounds for them.”
The Pioneers advance to the semifinals of the conference tournament, where they will face top-seeded West Liberty for the third time in the semifinal round of the MEC tournament. The two will meet on Saturday, March 7, at 6:00 p.m. at WesBanco Arena.