After falling behind by double digits early in the second half, West Virginia State rallied to find its way back into the game late but fell on Monday night to West Virginia Wesleyan, 78-73, at the Walker Convocation Center.
The loss was the sixth loss in a row for the Yellow Jackets, dropping them to 5-11 overall and 2-8 in Mountain East Conference play.
"I thought we battled and I was pleased with that, but I don't know what it is," West Virginia State coach Bryan Poore said. "It might be the grind of the season right now with these stretches of three games in five days and all that, but we have to make shots down the stretch if we want to win these games."
West Virginia State had chances to pull even late in the game, trailing by three points with the ball with 20 seconds to play. But it wasn't able to hit the shot it needed to down the stretch to have a chance to send the game into overtime.
It was a game of missed opportunities for the Yellow Jackets as they struggled to shoot the ball from the perimeter - where they usually excel and are one of the top 3-point shooting teams in the conference - and from the free throw line. WVSU made just 3-of-18 tries from beyond the arc and shot 42 percent from the foul line.
Meanwhile, West Virginia Wesleyan made close to 60 percent of its 3-pointers and went 8-for-8 from the free throw line in the final two minutes to keep West Virginia State from tying the game.
"You can't shoot 42 percent from the foul line in a close game and expect to win it," Poore said. "It came down to shot making, and we didn't make enough shots and they did."
The game was back-and-forth for much of the game. Neither team led by more than five points in the first half and West Virginia State came alive to outscore the Bobcats through the final 10 minutes of the game.
But the pivotal stretch of the contest came early in the second half when West Virginia Wesleyan opened with a 9-0 run that stretched its lead out to 11 points. From there, with the way the Bobcats played, it was difficult for the Yellow Jackets to bounce back as quickly as they needed to.
"They play a little bit faster now, but the thing with Wesleyan is that they are just so patient in the way they play," Poore said. "In those games, a 10-point lead really is almost like a 15-point lead, so you're not getting those quick possessions.
"We did a good job of getting it back down there where we had a chance to win though, so I'm proud of our guys for that."
When the Yellow Jackets were able to make a dent in the deficit, it was in large part thanks to the play of their forwards who were able to be physical and grab offensive rebounds that helped lead to second-chance opportunities at the rim.
West Virginia State out-rebounded West Virginia Wesleyan 46-31 and half of those rebounds came on the offensive end - resulting in 13 second-chance points.
"When you don't shoot the ball well, you better rebound the ball well and get it back," Poore said. "Our bigs really battled in there. They all did a nice job and that's really what kept us hanging around like we did."
Mo Berchie had his second big game in a row for West Virginia Wesleyan, leading the Bobcats with 24 points - including 17 in the first half. Kevin Kangni added 18 points while Clay Todd and Dusan Vicentic both scored 11.
Ernest Jenkins' 19 points led West Virginia State. Dequan Doyle and Terrance Jenkins both had double-doubles in the loss. Doyle had 14 points and 12 rebounds while Jenkins grabbed 11 boards to go with his 10 points. Jayson Hankins added 14 points for the Yellow Jackets.