Both the West Virginia State and University of Charleston men's basketball teams take the road Sunday, closing the weekend with Mountain East Conference competition. The Yellow Jackets had themselves a long trip, while the Golden Eagles go toe-to-toe with one of the nation's best.
WVSU (5-7, 2-4 MEC) tips off at 4 p.m. versus Shepherd (6-6, 3-3 MEC), while UC (9-3, 3-3 MEC) heads to Fairmont for a 4 p.m. game against No. 2 Fairmont State (12-0, 6-0 MEC).
Sunday's game versus the Falcons is the third of three straight road games for Charleston against nationally ranked opponents and the Golden Eagles will try to stave off a three-game losing streak. UC fell to No. 8 Wheeling Jesuit on Tuesday and lost to No. 4 West Liberty on Thursday.
Charleston will throw a quartet of double-digit scorers at the Falcons - Elliott Cole (17.1 points per game), Keir Anderson (13.0), Justin Coleman (12.5) and Shaq Speights (12.1). The Golden Eagles have improved offensively from last season, averaging 81.2 points so far this season after finishing last season with a 73.5-point average.
They'll need every one of those points to keep up with the Falcons, who rank first in the MEC and third in Division II with 97.6 points per game. Matt Bingaya, a former Southern Mississippi player, leads Fairmont State and is fifth in the MEC with 19.4 points per game to go along with 7.5 rebounds per game.
The Yellow Jackets are trying to avoid a three-game skid of their own after falling at home to West Liberty on Tuesday and Wheeling Jesuit on Thursday. State has a top scorer of its own in Earnest Jenkins, seventh in the conference with 18.8 points per game.
Shepherd, trying to return to winning ways after a loss to UVa-Wise, isn't a premier scoring team. The Rams are 11th in the 12-team MEC with 71.0 points per game. They are, however, one of the better defensive teams, ranking second in the conference by allowing just 70.5 points per game.
Steffen Davis leads the Rams with 16.5 points per game while shooting 40.2 percent from 3-point range.