In terms of momentum, the University of Charleston men's basketball team is swimming in it entering the upcoming Mountain East Conference tournament, while West Virginia State's is trying to find any at all.
The Golden Eagles wrapped up their regular season by trouncing the Yellow Jackets 102-67 on Saturday at the Civic Center. Five UC players finished in double-figure scoring, led by Tino DiTrapano's 25 points. Markee Mazyck scored 37 for WVSU but was the only Yellow Jacket to score more than eight.
UC's win gives the Golden Eagles (15-13, 12-10 MEC) the No. 5 seed in the MEC tournament and puts them at the Charleston Catholic Athletic Complex at 7:30 p.m. Tuesday against Urbana. The Yellow Jackets (6-21, 4-18) have been locked into the No. 10 seed and will visit seventh-seeded West Virginia Wesleyan on Tuesday.
Once WVSU coach Bryan Poore saw the results of UC's Thursday game, a 92-62 win over Concord, he knew his team was in for a tough game Saturday.
"Once I saw them beat Concord by 30, that's all you need," he said, "one good game to get a little mojo going. And they had it. They made shots."
The Golden Eagles pushed the Yellow Jackets into a deep hole early, staking a 17-2 lead in the game's first five minutes. State finally steadied the ship a little bit, but trailed by no fewer than eight points the rest of the half.
Charleston went to the locker room at halftime with a 45-29 lead, holding West Virginia State to just 10-for-36 (27.8 percent) shooting. Mazyck scored the lion's share of the Yellow Jackets' points, with 15, but was just 5 of 14 from the floor. UC, on the other hand, shot 17 of 34 from the floor (50 percent) in the first half, as well as 6 of 12 from 3-point range. The Golden Eagles recorded 12 assists on those 17 baskets.
UC came out of the locker room even stronger, shooting 18 of 29 (62.1 percent) from the floor in the second half. The Golden Eagles won the rebounding battle 48-34 and recorded 24 assists on 35 field goals.
Charleston coach Dwaine Osborne agreed that his team's win over Concord offered a massive confidence boost. The No. 4 seed in next week's tournament, the Mountain Lions were just the team the Golden Eagles needed to beat to close out the regular season.
"We were just trying to get one marquee win, so to speak, over an upper-echelon team," he said. "I felt like it was just the one thing we were missing. We didn't know if we could. I'm telling them they can. But until you do it on your own, sometimes that's what it takes. I really felt like if we could really get the game against Concord, they would understand better."
The Golden Eagles pulled away thanks to a prolific afternoon at the 3-point line. UC tied its season high with 14 3-pointers, matching the 14 it made on Jan. 18 against Glenville State. DiTrapano made six of them on seven attempts.
"I missed my first one," DiTrapano said. "It felt good and they were falling. And I don't think I made a shot in warmups when we came back out."
The Yellow Jackets were low on options Saturday afternoon. State sent just eight players into the game and was without the services of freshman guard Frank Webb, who sat with an injured knee. That robbed WVSU of its only other double-digit scorer and most accurate shooter. State was also missing Keith Harris, who sat with an injured foot.
Poore said both are doubtful for Tuesday's game, as is guard Tyler Thompson, who had a tooth knocked out Saturday.
"We're just a depleted, tired, unsure, young-at-spots team," Poore said.
Aleksander Kesic scored 18 points for the Golden Eagles, while Jevonte Hughes scored 17 with 11 rebounds. UC's Justin Coleman led all players with 13 rebounds. Thompson and Cody Morris each scored eight points for the Yellow Jackets.