INSTITUTE, W.Va. -- West Virginia State's men's basketball team secured its fourth consecutive victory to start the 2022-2023 campaign with a 85-80 win over the Concord Mountain Lions inside the Walker Convocation Center on Tuesday evening. Four out of the five Yellow Jacket starters put up double-digit point totals and two Yellow Jackets had double-doubles. 

West Virginia State (4-0, 2-0 MEC) used a late 14-5 run over the final 3:41 of the contest, a run that included eight foul shots, to send Concord (2-3, 0-2 MEC) back to Athens with the loss. Tuesday's victory was just the sixth time that State has beaten Concord as a member of the Mountain East, and just the third time that Concord has left Institute with a loss.

Concord jumped out to the early lead. State tied it up 4-4, but an 11-5 run for Concord gave them the early six-point lead. Taevon Horton was fouled while taking a shot from behind the arc and he drained all three foul shots just before the first media timeout. The second act of the first half saw the second tie of the game at 18-all when Ibn Loyal score a putback attempt. Concord scored four unanswered points, then State went on a mini 5-2 run capped off by a Miguel Martinez turnaround jumper to bring State to within one, 24-23. The third five minute set of the game was all square with both teams scoring six points going in to the final media timeout of the half. State then went on an 11-6 run to finish off the half, capped by a Samir Kinsler bomb from the left side of the arc and State took a 40-36 lead into the locker room. Neither team shot the ball particularly well in the first half. State shot 35% from the field, while Concord barely edged out State with a 37.8% tally. State only committed two turnovers, while forcing Concord into three. The Mountain Lions comitted eight turnover during the first half.

Concord came out of the gate determined to close the gap and the Mountain Lions tied the score up, 49-all. State's shooting woes continued, missing three shots inside the paint during the first five minutes of the second half. Concord put together a 12-5 run through the next five minutes and when Aboubacar Cisse was called for an offensive foul, head coach Bryan Poore had seen enough and called a timeout. State chipped away at the lead and foul trouble was starting to haunt the Mountain Lions and their first victim to fouls came at the final media timeout when Horton went up for a three and Concord's Lual Rahama was called for a cylinder violation that sent him to the bench for the remainder of the game. Horton missed the first, but put the next two foul shots through to close the gap to 71-73. Horton later tied it up 75-75 and a Kinsler trey put the Yellow Jackets in the lead for good. Concord closed the gap to one with 31 seconds left, but couldn't get closer when the red lights came on.

Malik Whitaker played the entire game and scored 21 points and collected 17 boards, 13 of them on the defensive glass. Whitaker was three assists shy of a triple-double. Loyal had his second straight double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds. State ended up shooting 32.8% from the field, but hammered down 34 of 45 foul shots. Concord was 14 of 18 from the charity stripe.

Up Next
State will head to Raleigh, N.C. for a non-conference contest against St. Augustine's on Saturday, Nov. 26. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 pm.