The West Virginia State and University of Charleston men's basketball teams flip-flop opponents Saturday afternoon, and both teams hope they fare better against those foes than their Kanawha Valley counterparts did Thursday night.
The Golden Eagles (14-11, 8-11 Mountain East Conference) host No. 2 Fairmont State (24-1, 18-1) at 4 p.m. Saturday, while the Yellow Jackets (6-19, 3-16) host Shepherd (16-9, 13-6) at 4 p.m. Saturday. Time is running out for both teams' goals - Charleston to climb higher in the MEC tournament seeding, West Virginia State to qualify for the 10-team tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.
Neither team helped itself Thursday night. UC came close, almost completely erasing the Rams' 13-point lead with 6:53 left in the game, but the Golden Eagles couldn't wipe out all of it. Charleston cut the Shepherd lead to one point but a missed Shaq Speights 3-pointer with five seconds left allowed the Rams to escape with a 75-74 win.
The Yellow Jackets watched one of the nation's elite teams pull away quickly and create a wide margin. Fairmont led by as many as 41 points in the second half and ultimately prevailed 108-72.
UC will have to contend with Matt Bingaya, a former Southern Mississippi player who reached 1,000 career points in less than two seasons after transferring to Fairmont State. He ranks fourth in the conference at 20.0 points per game and shoots 64 percent from the floor, the second-best clip in the MEC. Bingaya also ranks ninth in rebounding with 7.2 per game.
Shepherd brings with it the top scoring defense in the MEC, allowing just 73.4 points per game. Opponents shoot just 43.4 percent from the floor against the Rams.