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West Virginia State University Athletics

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Whittaker MBB22
Photo: Todd Griffith
80
Kentucky St. KySt 6-2,5-1 SIAC
110
Winner West Virginia St. WVSt 11-1,6-1 MEC
Kentucky St. KySt
6-2,5-1 SIAC
80
Final
110
West Virginia St. WVSt
11-1,6-1 MEC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Kentucky St. KySt 34 46 80
West Virginia St. WVSt 55 55 110

Game Recap: Men's Basketball | | Bryan Shepherd, Assistant Sports Information Director

No. 16 WVSU advances to YES USVI Championship with rout of Kentucky State

ST. THOMAS, U.S. Virgin Islands – The No. 16 Yellow Jacket men's basketball team took down the Kentucky State Thoroughbreds in the semifinal of the YES U.S. Virgin Islands Classic on Sunday, 110-80. WVSU (11-1, 6-1 MEC) broke a brief tie with Kentucky State (6-2, 5-1 SIAC) to take the lead at the 18:18 mark of the first half and never relinquished it.

Noah Jordan led the scoring for State with 20 points, shooting 9-of-15 from the field and was one rebound shy of a double-double. Malik Whittaker put on a shooting clinic, hitting 6-of-7 from the field, including 3-of-4 from behind the arc to go with five boards. Samier Kinsler added 14 points, hitting three of his six long-range shots and went 5-of-6 from the charity stripe. State shot well as a team, hitting 59.7 percent of their shots, including 50 percent from downtown and held a 41-31 rebounding edge.

Kentucky State only shot 9 percent from behind the arc, making just 2-of-22 attempts and shot 29-of-70 from the field. The Thoroughbreds were led by Jay Murrell with 20 points and nine rebounds.

Kentucky State opened the scoring in the game at the 19:27 mark. Noah Jordan quickly answered with a layup of his own with 19:20 on the clock. Those seven seconds that KSU had the lead would be the only time KSU would be in front. State went on an 11-2 run over 4:33 until the 13:46 mark of the half. Whittaker scored seven points and Jordan added four. 

Both teams went silent for a little over a minute, but then State went on three different 6-0 runs during a seven minute span to steadily increase the lead, led by Kinsler who hit three consecutive treys. 

WVSU and KSU traded buckets over the last five minutes of the half with each team adding 11 points. Whittaker hit a jumper with about 30 seconds left in the half to give the Jackets a 21 point lead heading into intermission.

State opened the second half on an 9-2 run over the first three minutes, almost single handedly by Dwaine Jones who scored eight. A minute later, State started a 10-2 run that lasted just under two minutes with Taevon Horton and Jordan each hitting a layup and a trey each, 78-46. KSU hit a layup to break the run, but Horton hit another shot from downtown followed by a Noah Jordan jumper to extend the lead to 35 points, 83-48.

Bunky Brown drove the lane and scored a layup with 8:16 to go in the game and converted the and-one opportunity to give State their largest lead of the game at 36 points, 90-54. State put subs in shortly after and cruised to the 30 point victory.

The Yellow Jackets will play in the YES USVI Classic championship game on Monday, Jan. 2nd against the winner of the Virginia State vs. Tusculum game that will be played later today. Tip-off is scheduled for 10:15 am EST.
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