HONOLULU – West Virginia State's mens basketball team never trailed in a 87-69 drubbing of the #11 Embry Riddle Aeronautical University Eagles in the final game of the Hoops in Hawai'i Holiday Classic. 

The Yellow Jackets forced 11 of Embry-Riddle's 19 turnovers and outscored the Eagles 26-14 off of Eagle miscues. Anthony Pittman led the charge, amassing a season-high 28 points on 9-16 shooting and 9-12 from the charity stripe. Glen Abram contributed 19 points on 6-23 from the field, including 4-13 from long-range. Abram also dished a season-high seven assists, coming just one shy of matching his career-high. Jeremiah Moore added 14 points and was a perfect six for six at the free-throw line.

Pittman and Moore were named all-tournament team selections and Abram was named tournament MVP.

The Jackets opened the game on a 7-0 run with a layup from Moore, a trey from Pittman followed by a slam by Pittman that forced an early Eagle timeout so that they could regroup. WVSU held a 9-5 lead going into the first media timeout.

Ernest Jenkins started right back up coming out of the break with a trey followed by a Pittman layup that put the Eagles in a 9 point hole almost immediately. Embry-Riddle quickly regrouped and closed it to within 4 going into the under-12 timeout. 

A free throw by the Eagles at the 12:08 mark was the final point they scored for the next 4:22 of the game, forcing another Eagle timeout staring down the barrel of yet another 7-0 run by the Yellow Jackets.That run extended another two points before Embry-Riddle finally answered to make it 25-14 with 7:46 to go before the break.

The Eagles then went on a 13-4 run which forced Head Coach Bryan Poore to use his use it or lose it timeout at the 4:29 mark of the half. The Jackets regrouped and went on a 12-5 run to close out the half and take a 41-30 lead into the locker room.

WVSU came out with a purpose to start the second half, continuing their 12-5 run and extending it into a massive 30-7 beatdown to take their largest lead of the game, 59-32. That run lasted for 9:24 of the game, from the 4:13 mark of the first half, to 14:49 of the second. During that stretch, the Yellow Jackets shot 12-20 from the field, including 5-8 from long-range and didn't commit a single turnover. The Eagles committed seven turnovers during that time and shot 3-12 from the field. Both teams were shooting double bonus by the 10 minute mark of the second half.

Embry-Riddle made an attempt to answer that run with one of their own, going on a 16-2 run of their own, including scoring 12 unanswered. The Eagles couldn't get closer than 11 points when both of Embry-Riddle's post-players got saddled with foul trouble early in the second half. Nikola Jerotic picked up his fourth foul at the 15:08 mark and Michael McCalister was whistled for his fourth at the 11:51 mark. McCalister fouled out with 5:19 to go and Jerotic joined him with just over two minutes left.

The Eagles shot 23-61 from the field (37.7%), while WVSU shot 29-69 from the field (42%). WVSU shot 20-28 from the line, including 15-22 in the second half. The Yellow Jackets held a slim 44-43 advantage on the boards

WVSU will now take a break for the holiday season and return to MEC play on Wednesday, January 5th, 2022 for a 7:30 tilt against the Davis & Elkins Senators in Elkins. Live stats and streaming will be available.