Classes at West Virginia State do not begin for almost two weeks but the men's basketball team passed a couple of tests Wednesday night anyway in a thrilling 82-80 win over visiting Ohio Dominican.

      First the Yellow Jackets showed they have what it takes to come back from an early deficit after trailing by a many as 11 points following a 16-3 Panther run midway through the first half. WVSU rallied to close out the opening half on a 15-4 run to earn a 43-37 halftime lead as Jeremiah Moore led the way with 16 points.

      The visitors scored seven of the first eight points after halftime to tie things up and the teams would battle evenly over the next several minutes before the Yellow Jackets used a 15-4 spurt to break a tie and move ahead 70-59 with 8:37 to play.

       That set up WVSU for its second test of the night and once again the Jackets passed with flying colors.

       Even though they saw their lead disappear into an 80-80 tie with 2;23 to go they had the answer.

      Senior Pat Johnson-Agwu took the ball to the basket and was fouled in the lane before he could get the shot off. He calmly stepped to the line and sank both free throws at the 1:54 mark to account for the final points of the game. The Jacket defense shutdown the Panthers the final two minutes.

       Moore finished with 21 points and Johnson-Agwu 20 to lead WVSU.

     It was the third win in a row for the Yellow Jackets who have not lost since the last day of classes for the fall semester.

     That includes a conference win over Urbana on December 10 and non-conference victories against previously unbeaten Chowan and now Ohio Dominican.

     Next up, WVSU travels to Chowan for a 2:00 p.m. contest Sunday.