WHEELING, W.VA. – West Virginia State Men's Basketball suffered an upset in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference Tournament Friday at WesBanco Arena, falling 95-87 to seventh-seeded Alderson Broaddus.
The seconded-seeded Yellow Jackets finish the year 23-7 and will await their fate for the NCAA Tournament.
Graduate student Jeremiah Moore tallied a double-double with 26 points and 11 rebounds, his tenth of the season. Sophomore Noah Jordan also registered a double-double with 19 points and 13 boards. Freshman Dwaine Jones posted 18 points, followed by sophomore Anthony Pittman's 10.
State shot 44% from the floor, and dominated rebounding 40-27. The Yellow Jackets were also impressive inside, tallying 48 points in the paint. AB shot 56% and earned 24 points off the fast break.
The Battlers built a 14-5 lead early in the first half, and remained in control until back-to-back treys from Jordan followed by a layup from Jones evened the score at 18-18 with just over 10 minutes remaining in the half.
AB responded with a 10-0 run to rebuild an 11-point advantage at 31-20. State continued to try and chip away at the deficit, coming within four points on a layup from Moore at 35-31 and then again with Jordan at 37-33 with 2:34 on the clock. Jones trimmed the deficit to just two points on a layup, but the Battlers put up six straight points to finish the half in command, 41-35.
The Yellow Jackets began the second half with a five consecutive points, all courtesy of Jones, to bring the score to 44-40. After a layup from Jones at the 16:07 mark narrowed the margin to just two points at 49-47, AB responded by building a lead as high as 15 points with 8:15 on the clock.
A lay-in from Moore followed by a three from Jenkins brought State to within 10 points at 72-62, and then a couple baskets from the charity stripe for Moore and Pittman, followed by a Moore layup and free throw and a Pittman three off his own board cut the lead to just three points at 73-70 with just under five minutes remaining in regulation.
The Battlers once again made good on a run and rebuilt their cushion to eight points at 80-72 with 2:44 remaining, and then returned to a double-digit advantage with less than two minutes to play.
A surge late from senior Bradlee Lewis late trimmed the deficit to just six points once more at 89-83 and just 40 seconds to go, and then again on a Lewis layup with 24 seconds remaining and State trailing 90-85.
The threat was stifled, as AB went on to secure the upset 95-87.
