The Mountain East Conference has three teams ranked in the top five of the National Association of Basketball Coaches poll released Tuesday.
Wheeling Jesuit (26-1, 19-1 MEC) is ranked No. 1 for the first time in school history, while West Liberty is No. 2 and Fairmont State checks in at No. 5.
The Cardinals have the nation’s longest winning streak at 21 games and are looking for their first conference championship since 1989.
West Liberty (24-2, 18-2), which has won six straight MEC championships, has won eight in a row after dropping two consecutive games, while the Falcons (23-3, 17-3) are 4-0 since hitting a two-game skid.
Wheeling Jesuit takes on the Hilltoppers at 4 p.m. Saturday in West Liberty, marking the 11th meeting of the top two ranked teams in the poll’s history.
Fairmont hosts Glenville State at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.
AREA SIGNING
Winfield’s Sam Johns will sign a national letter of intent Thursday at Winfield High School to run cross country and track at Glenville State this fall.
YOUTH BASKETBALL
Elkins’ Isaac Winans finished as the runner-up in the 44th annual Elks National Hoop Shoot Contest earlier this month at Capital High School in Charleston. Winans, 13, is an eighth grader on the Elkins Middle School varsity basketball squad.
COACHING CLASS
An ASEP coaching class will be held March 5, 6 and 13 at Huntington High School for those interested in coaching a secondary school sport. To register, visit www.wvssac.org.
WVU TECH BASEBALL
Senior Josh Hudson, a former South Charleston High standout, allowed just two hits and no runs in six innings of work to lead the Golden Bears to a 9-3 win over Glenville State at Linda K. Epling Stadium in Beckley. Hudson evened his record at 1-1, while striking out six.
Juniors Trevor Lam, Sebastian Gomez Herrera and Marcus Rodriguez, along with senior Dylan Harvey, finished with two hits and an RBI apiece for Tech. Doug Prather collected three RBIs for the Golden Bears.
Tech improved to 2-2, while Glenville slipped to 0-8.