INSTITUTE, W.VA. – West Virginia State Men's Basketball extended their win streak to five games Wednesday night, taking down Mountain East Conference opponent Notre Dame College 83-73 in Walker Convocation Center.

The Yellow Jackets move to 10-5 on the season and improve to 5-3 in the league, while the Falcons dropped to 9-3 and 6-3.

The Yellow Jackets boasted five double-digit scorers, led by a season-high performance from freshman Dwaine Jones with 19 points. Jones dished out six assists and shot 50% from the floor. Sophomore Anthony Pittman posted his fourth double-double of the season, registering 15 points and 11 rebounds. He added two blocks.

Graduate senior Glen Abram finished the contest with 16 points, including six points from the line in the final two minutes of action. Classmate Jeremiah Moore recorded his fourth consecutive double-double, and seventh of the season, with 12 points and 10 boards. Sophomore Noah Jordan registered 15 points, including a pair of dunks.
State shot 43% from the floor and hauled in 42 points in the paint during the contest.

The excitement started early for State, after a Jordan dunk doubled the Yellow Jackets lead to 10-5 to spur a 6-0 scoring run. Notre Dame responded with a 6-0 run of their own, cut off after a Jones layup put the Yellow Jackets ahead 16-11.

After a brief 16-16 stalemate, the teams traded points and leads for the next six minutes until another 6-0 surge, featuring back-to-back layups from Jones, gave State a 35-29 lead.

The final two minutes of play delivered the excitement for the Yellow Jackets, beginning with a trey from Pittman. Jordan delivered another slam, and Jones increased State's lead to its biggest of the contest at 43-31, to close the half.

Back-to-back jumpers from the Falcons opened the second half as Notre Dame trimmed the lead to 43-35, but the Yellow Jackets built the lead back up to 48-39 on a layup from Moore and a trey from Jordan, both assisted by Jones.

A steal from graduate student Ernest Jenkins gave way for Jones to widen the gap to 10 points for State at 59-49, and then the Yellow Jackets repeated the process- this time on the theft from Abram and drive to the basket coming from Moore- to go up 61-2 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half.

The Falcons trimmed the deficit to just five points before a forced turnover from Moore put State back in possession and Abram capped off the sequence with a dunk of his own, pushing the ledger to 66-59.

Notre Dame began to really threat as the half inched closer to the finish, cutting the lead to four points at 69-65 on a three-pointer. A defensive board from Jones sent Moore into the dunking action, giving State some cushion at 71-65 with a little over four and a half minutes left to play.

A pair of free throws from Abram and a Jordan layup increased State's advantage to 10 points at 78-68 and again at 80-70 as the final minute was extended through three separate timeouts.

Abram again went to the line, recording his sixth point of the final two minutes to push State to 82-70 before the frame finally came to a close, with State securing the 83-73 victory.

UP NEXT
WVSU returns to the road, traveling to Philippi, W.Va., to face Mountain East Conference member Alderson Broaddus Saturday. Tip-off is slated for 4 p.m., with live stats and video streaming available.