After making it through the first round of Mountain East Conference play, the University of Charleston and West Virginia State both have learned a lot about who they are and where they can improve as they head down the season's home stretch.
Entering this weekend, West Virginia State hopes to open up the second half of MEC play on a good note as it hosts Concord. The men's game, with the Yellow Jackets attempting to break a seven-game losing streak, is scheduled to tip off at about 4 p.m., after the conclusion of the 2 p.m. women's game at the Walker Convocation Center.
"We have to keep getting better and just keep pushing to get over the hump," State coach Bryan Poore said. "Once we do that and get a win or two under our belt again, I think we can really take off. I'm proud of the way they've been battling and trying to get out of this."
Despite the losing streak and some tough breaks, Poore has seen several positives out of his group as of late. Four of the Yellow Jackets' seven losses since returning from the holiday break have been by 10 points or less.
On Thursday night, WVSU (5-12, 2-9 MEC) was down by two points with less than two minutes to play before Charleston (10-7, 4-7) secured the win.
In its first meeting against Concord earlier this season, West Virginia State lost 92-82 in Athens. Brent Bauer paced the Yellow Jackets in that game with 21 points.
In order to break this slump, Poore said his team must find a way to put together a more consistent performance for 40 minutes.
"We just haven't been able to put it all together," Poore said. "There are a couple little things here and there. Look at [Thursday], we took some bad shots at critical times, we gave up an offensive rebound at a critical time. Cleaning up those little things that sway the game one way or another is what we have to do.
"It's about those little things and doing those the whole game so that you don't find yourself down 12 with four minutes to go and have to claw back into it. That comes with maturity though, and we're growing still."
UC will hit the road after playing its first two games at the new H. Bernard Wehrle Sr. Athletic Arena, traveling to take on a UVa-Wise team that the Golden Eagles already have beaten once this season - a 93-80 victory at the Charleston Catholic Athletic Complex.
Thursday's victory over West Virginia State was the first win for Charleston since Christmas, breaking its own six-game losing streak. It was a win that coach Dwaine Osborne believes could serve as a bit of a springboard for a Golden Eagles squad that needed to gain some kind of momentum back after reeling from the last few weeks.
"It was really big for us to finally get a win, and obviously doing it against a rival is a great feeling," Osborne said. "Just to get back to having that feeling in the locker room after a win again was huge. It's been a while since we've gotten to go in there and celebrate a little bit. We hopefully are going to be able to build on this and come back and get one again as we start the second round of MEC play here."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.