As it heads into the final two games of the regular season, the West Virginia State men's basketball team finds itself in a tough position. The Yellow Jackets are three games out of 10th place in the Mountain East Conference and, therefore, mathematically eliminated from being able to earn a spot in the conference tournament.
But there's still plenty on the line for them to play for.
"It's all about playing for pride right now," West Virginia State coach Bryan Poore said. "We need to just keep going out there and putting forth our best effort and just see what we can do and keep trying to build for next year."
WVSU (6-20, 3-17 Mountain East) has a core of talented young players it has been able to thrust into early leadership roles - something that has led to some bumps in the road this season but could pay off later on. That includes Ernest Jenkins, the freshman guard who has scored in double figures in all but two games this season for the Yellow Jackets.
He'll become the first freshman to lead West Virginia State in scoring in 50 years - since Dave Hamilton did it during the 1966-67 season.
"We've had some good players to come through here and have had a lot of good freshmen, so that says a lot about him and the way he's stepped up," Poore said. "That puts Ernie in some pretty good company."
The Yellow Jackets will host UVa-Wise at 7:30 p.m. Thursday at the Walker Convocation Center.
The Cavaliers (7-19, 5-15 Mountain East) have struggled a bit as of late, dropping three straight since upsetting then-No. 18 Wheeling Jesuit. That recent slide has dropped them down to 11th in the conference and in need of a big final week to punch their ticket to Charleston for the conference tournament.
"It seems like a year ago we played them the first time and we were both completely different teams then," Poore said. "They'll be hungry to get a win and it will all depend on how well we can come out and defend and rebound against them."
While State is out of the running for the conference tournament, Charleston will hit the road Thursday looking to end the season on the right foot.
The Golden Eagles (14-12, 8-12 Mountain East) will head to Concord with a chance to play their way into a first-round bye at the MEC tournament with a pair of victories to cap the regular season.
"We're confident that if we go 2-0 this week we can get that bye, so finding a way to do that is huge. But you can't go 2-0 without winning the first one," UC coach Dwaine Osborne said. "I've told these guys to prepare like this is a tournament game for us. You have to approach it the same way like if your season is on the line."
But Concord has started to hit its stride heading into the end of the regular season. Once at the bottom of the MEC, the Mountain Lions (10-16, 6-14 Mountain East) have won five of their last six - including a win over No. 7 West Liberty.
Armed with a number of experienced players who played minutes on last year's conference championship-winning squad, Osborne knows this could be a tough one for his team on the road.
"They're a hard team to match up with when they go to a four-guard lineup. It throws a nice wrinkle into the game plan because you have to prepare for that differently," Osborne said. "As tough a year as they've had, these are kids that played roles on that team last year that made it to the national tournament and won a conference tournament championship.
"They're playing really well and they'll be a tough test for us."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.