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West Virginia State University Athletics

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MBB23 Cox
Photo: Todd Griffith
89
West Virginia St. WVSt 5-4,3-3 MEC
91
Winner West Liberty WL 8-1,4-1 MEC
West Virginia St. WVSt
5-4,3-3 MEC
89
Final
91
West Liberty WL
8-1,4-1 MEC
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
West Virginia St. WVSt 42 47 89
West Liberty WL 37 54 91

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

Men’s Basketball drops close game to #2 West Liberty

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – West Virginia State men's basketball went toe-to-toe with the No. 2 team in the country in the West Liberty Hilltoppers, but ultimately fell by a 91-89 final score. West Virginia State shot 5-for-13 for the game from long range, while West Liberty shot 12-of-31, including 9-of-20 in the second half.

West Virginia State falls to 5-4, 3-3 in the Mountain East Conference. West Liberty goes to 8-1, 4-1 in the conference with the win.

Arthur Cox shot 7-for-9 from the field en route to scoring 17 points for West Virginia State. Nate Mims scored 16 for the Yellow Jackets, and Anthony Pittman added 15. Bunky Brown and Mahzi Thames were also in double digits with 13 and 10 points respectively.

Ben Sarson led all scorers for the Hilltoppers with 18 points.

West Liberty scored the first six points of the game. Bunky Brown got the Yellow Jackets on the scoreboard a little over two minutes into the game. West Liberty then pulled ahead with a layup and the front-end of a two shot foul, 9-4. 

Thames kicked off a WVSU scoring run at the 15:03 mark with a layup. West Liberty suddenly went cold from the field, shooting 1-for-9 with five turnovers, allowing WVSU to go on a 22-2 run capped by a Bunky Brown layup with 8:43 to play in the half, putting State on top 26-11. West Liberty snapped the run with two straight buckets. Heading into the final media timeout of the half, WVSU held a 12 point lead over the Hilltoppers, 31-19.

West Liberty used that media timeout to regroup and went on a 14-4 run over the next two minutes to shave the WVSU lead to four, 37-33. It was a dead heat for the rest of the half, except for a pair of late Antonio Carter foul shots that boosted WVSU's lead to 42-37 at halftime.

West Liberty scored the first four points of the second half to get within a point of the Yellow Jackets. Miguel Martinez hit a layup to answer the Hilltoppers, followed by a pair of free throws from Arthur Cox and one from Bunky Brown, 47-41. It was a dead heat up to the under-15 media timeout with State holding a 55-49 lead. 

A Mims trey and a pair of Cox layups gave State their biggest lead of the second half so far, 62-53. Thames answered a West Liberty layup to maintain the nine point lead, but West Liberty then hit three straight treys to trim the lead to 66-64 heading into the under-10 timeout. 

West Liberty's Sarson tied the game up at 66-all with exactly 10 minutes left, followed by a West Liberty layup to give them their first lead since 14:06 in the first half when they led 9-8. Anthony Pittman laid the ball in to tie the game back up at 68 on the next possession. State and West Liberty traded buckets through to the second half floater timeout when West Liberty called timeout with 5:21 showing on the clock after taking a one point lead on a three point shot, 78-77. 

Nate Mims gave the Yellow Jackets the lead again with 2:35 to play, 81-80. Sarson hit two foul shots for the Hilltoppers to give West Liberty the lead permanently. State went 3-of-5 down the stretch, while West Liberty hit every field goal they shot and hit 5-of-6 from the charity stripe to seal the win.

West Virginia State will head to the Virgin Islands next week to defend their YES U.S. Virgin Islands Classic title, starting off with a contest against the University of Fort Lauderdale on Dec. 15 at 3:15 PM. 
 
 
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