West Virginia State was able to end its season on a high note by snapping a five-game losing streak to Charleston, defeating its biggest Mountain East Conference rival 78-62 Saturday at the Walker Convocation Center.
It was a great way to cap a difficult season for the Yellow Jackets (7-21, 4-18 Mountain East Conference) after not qualifying for next week's conference tournament.
"This was awesome, we've been striving for the kind of effort and execution we had tonight for a long time now," West Virginia State coach Bryan Poore said. "I'm proud for our guys, this was big for our seniors. It's been a rough year on them and they fought through it and picked up a really special win against your crosstown rival that has had our number the last few years."
The victory snapped a nine-game losing streak for West Virginia State and dealt Charleston (14-14, 8-14 MEC) its fifth consecutive defeat as it prepares to head into the postseason.
"They played better than we did, they played harder than we did," UC coach Dwaine Osborne said. "I don't really think anything went that well. We struggled to make shots the entire night even though we felt we got some good looks at it."
It was the final home game for the two West Virginia State seniors who were honored before the game, and both Terrance Jenkins and Tyrie Elliott wasted no time helping their team jump out and grab the momentum in the first half.
Jenkins scored 14 points and pulled down four rebounds while Elliott knocked down four 3-pointers to finish with 12 points.
"I've been here for two years, both years have been a struggle at times where we didn't play as well as we knew we could, but this one was an awesome way to go out. It feels great," Jenkins said. "This was a great way to go out. I loved every minute of getting to play in this uniform with these guys."
The Yellow Jackets were able to make life difficult for the Golden Eagles thanks to their defense - swarming UC and not allowing it to cut into the deficit once WVSU was able to extend the lead into double figures in the first half. Charleston shot just 33.3 percent from the field and made only three of its 23 attempts from beyond the arc.
Poore and Jenkins both gave plenty of credit to Sable Cooper, a freshman from Akron, Ohio, who made his second start of the season. In addition to his season-high 16 points to lead WVSU, Cooper also had the duty of guarding UC leading scorer Elliott Cole for the majority of the contest. The senior guard finished with 14 points on 4-of-17 shooting, including 2 of 13 from 3-point range.
"We had Cole kind of frustrated at times, I think, and that credit goes to Sable Cooper," Poore said. "I told him before the game that I wanted him to be like a gnat and just not leave him. He was flying around all game and he did a great job of making him take tough shots and not letting him get in a rhythm."
A short drought about midway through the second half had allowed UC to cut the State lead down to seven points, but despite not making a field goal for nearly eight minutes the Yellow Jackets were able to extend that lead thanks to an efficient showing from the free-throw line down the stretch.
In the final 9:30 of the game, West Virginia State - which entered the game next to last in the MEC in free-throw shooting - made 16 of 23 foul shots and ended the game shooting 71.4 percent from the line.
Justin Coleman and Keir Anderson both joined Cole in double figures for UC, scoring 11 points apiece. Coleman recorded a double-double, adding 12 rebounds.
Terrance Jenkins, Elliott and Cooper led a group of five Yellow Jackets to score at least 10 points. Ernest Jenkins added 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists while Brent Bauer scored 10 in the victory.
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.