No. 4 West Liberty came alive at the end of the first half to take a big lead, but had to fight off a late rally by West Virginia State to escape the Walker Convocation Center with a 100-93 win on Tuesday night.
The Hilltoppers (10-1, 4-1 Mountain East Conference) led by as many as 20 points in the second half, but the Yellow Jackets gradually worked their way back into the game thanks to some great shooting performances. Trailing by 15 points with less than 5 minutes to play, West Virginia State hit 3-pointers on five consecutive possessions - a run that helped shrink the lead to five points in the final minute before West Liberty was able to hold on in the closing seconds.
"The last few years, if you look back at what we've done against West Liberty, they haven't been nearly this competitive," West Virginia State coach Bryan Poore said. "There was a chance this one could have ended up like that, but we didn't let it keep snowballing. For that, I'm proud of them. They made some shots and kept battling.
"The tough thing is, in this conference, it's not going to get any easier from here."
Five players hit shots from beyond the arc for West Virginia State (5-6, 2-3 Mountain East) in the game, highlighted by Ernest Jenkins and Brent Bauer who both made four 3-pointers.
Bauer led the way in that comeback for much of the game, scoring 24 of his team-high 28 points in the second half. But it seemed like, until they were able to make that late run and cut into the West Liberty lead, the Hilltoppers would always have an answer any time WVSU attempt to swing some of the momentum back into its favor.
"A lot of the credit for that goes to West Liberty, that's what they do," Poore said. "You can't take a second off against a team like this because they have too many guys who can dribble, pass and shoot. They'll find the person who is taking a play off and that's the guy who will end up getting hurt and giving up a bucket."
West Virginia State opened the game trading punches with West Liberty, leading by as many as seven points in the first half and holding the Hilltoppers at bay for large stretches of the opening 20 minutes. But after a Terrance Jenkins layup gave WVSU the lead with 7 minutes before the half, the Yellow Jackets went cold.
They didn't make a field goal the rest of the half, scoring their final seven points from the free throw line, allowing West Liberty (10-1, 4-1 Mountain East) to go into the locker room on a 20-7 run - extending WLU's lead to double figures and it never looked back from there.
"We're still such a work in progress. We're still just trying to learn to talk to each other, and we can't figure that out right now," Poore said. "Until we do that, the rest doesn't mean anything. I'm tired of coaching groups of individuals and not a team. This one is better than it's been the last couple of years, but it's not there yet."
The West Liberty defense gave West Virginia State a hard time most of the night. The Hilltoppers pressed for a large portion of the game, forcing the Yellow Jackets into 18 turnovers in the process, including a pair of five-second violations on inbounds passes.
And the No. 4 Hilltoppers were able to rely on a number of players to come up with key plays throughout the game. West Liberty got hot in the second half, ending the game shooting 50 percent from the floor.
Zac Grossenbacher led the way for West Liberty, finishing with 24 points to go with nine rebounds and eight blocks. Dan Monteroso added 18 points for the Hilltoppers, while James Griffin, Devin Hoehn and David Dennis also reached double figures in the victory.
Dennis had a double-double, scoring 10 points while handing out 10 assists to just one turnover.
Jenkins and Sable Cooper joined Bauer in double figures. Jenkins finished with 18 points while Cooper made a big impact off the bench with 13 points.
The Yellow Jackets won't have much time to bounce back, as they host No. 8 Wheeling Jesuit at 7:30 p.m. Thursday.