Guard play has been a strength for the West Virginia State men's basketball team for most of this season.
With Brent Bauer running the point and Ernest Jenkins playing off the ball, they were able to emerge as one of the top scoring backcourt pairs in the Mountain East Conference. But when Bauer went down with an ankle injury during the Yellow Jackets' loss to Charleston last week, it forced coach Bryan Poore to switch the lineup.
"He rolled his ankle pretty good. He's been on crutches and is going to be out for a little while," Poore said of Bauer. "We don't know how long, but it could be a couple of weeks."
Poore slid Jenkins over to point guard for WVSU's game against Concord and brought Tyrie Elliott into the starting lineup. They stepped up and did what they needed to do, with Jenkins scoring 14 points and handing out a career-high eight assists as Elliott knocked down five 3-pointers to lead West Virginia State with 15 points. The Yellow Jackets were able to snap a seven-game losing streak with Saturday's victory over the Mountain Lions.
"Ty and Ernie really click when they're out there together," Poore said. "Those two guys have really connected and they played well together and made the plays they needed to make to help us get a win."
It was Elliott's second start of the season as he has spent most of the year serving as the team's top backcourt option off the bench. The junior from Washington, D.C., said the different role was something that he had to get used to early on.
But with Bauer out, he knew that his team would need him to step up - and as an upperclassman, he was willing to do what he needed to do to help the Jackets get back on track after such a long drought.
"Those seven games felt like two years," Elliott said. "When Brent went down, the team kind of got down a little bit. Me being an older guy, I told them we were going to be fine.
"I approached this game a little differently, I felt like I was more focused than usual just because I knew I had to bring it since I'd be asked to do more."
For Jenkins, it was also quite a switch. The freshman had played point guard a lot in high school and at the AAU level, and he has played it at times since arriving at West Virginia State. Yet it was the first time he had been handed the reigns to the offense as the floor general.
The Maryland native came into that game against Concord averaging 17.3 points, but had just six points at the half. The difference was his assists - he was helping everyone else get buckets while he was looking for his shot before things got going for him in the second half.
"I've never really been a selfish guy and I always look to pass first anyway," Jenkins said. "I'm in my comfort zone still when I play point guard. It was different, but it was an easy shift."
While they don't know exactly how long Bauer will be out, the Yellow Jackets will try to make the most of the situation as they try to build from the momentum they picked up this weekend. Their next chance comes at 7:30 p.m. Thursday when they visit No. 9 Wheeling Jesuit.
"We've got a lot of pieces all over the place. We feel like we have good guards, some good bigs down low that can do great things," Jenkins said. "We got things clicking and we really just want to carry that game by game and try to get some more wins."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.