WHEELING, W.Va. – The fifth-seeded Glenville State Men's Basketball team used a 20-point first half and 21-point second half lead to hang on and defeat fourth-seeded University of Charleston in the Quarterfinals of the MEC Tournament Friday (Mar. 6) night, 79-76. The Pioneers moved to (18-11) on the year and have now defeated UC in back-to-back years inside WesBanco Arena to advance to Semifinal Saturday.
1st Half
The Pioneers came out hot, leading 15-6 at the under-15 media timeout with scores from
Ammar Maxwell,
Prince Mosengo,
Don Colon-Lewis and
Elijah Redfern. A pair of long-range three pointers allowed Charleston to keep the deficit under double digits midway through the half, but a 7-0 run by Glenville State after the under-10 media TO gave GSU a 16-point lead.
Glenville's leading scorer,
Jalen Knott, didn't get involved until just under four and a half minutes left in the half when the senior guard knocked down a straightaway three to increase the lead to 33-13. "It didn't have to be superhero ball," stated Knott. "We put a lot of trust in the guys to make plays and I knew my game was going to come." Charleston trimmed the deficit down to 13 with a 10-3 run to end the half, making it a 36-23 lead for the Pioneers.
2nd Half
The teams exchanged threes before the Pioneers were able to build the lead back up to 18 at the under-15 minute media TO on key second chance opportunities.
Don Colon-Lewis added onto his already impressive night with a three out of the timeout, but the two squads would once again trade three-point buckets as UC kept the ballgame at bay.
Charleston used a barrage of threes to cut the GSU lead 11, and even had a chance to make it a 10-point game on an and-one opportunity, but a missed free throw and UC foul ruined the chance. However, the Golden Eagles put together another scoring spurt minutes later, which was headlined by All-MEC First Teamer Thomas Hailey, to make it a six-point contest.
Elijah Redfern knocked down a three and a pair of free throws a minute later, pushing it back to a nine-point lead. "I was able to get into a groove," said Redfern.
Down the stretch, the Golden Eagles continued to make contested deep shots as the blue and white's offense had to rely on free throw shooting and good defense as the game began to wind down. Charleston made it 77-73 with 12 seconds left, and Redfern once again came up clutch at the free throw line to put the game out of reach. The Golden Eagles hit a three with 0.7 seconds left, but it was too late as the Pioneers survived and advanced to Semifinal Saturday with the 79-76 victory.
"I just thought it was a tremendous defensive effort by our players," said third-year head coach
Bob Bolen. "These guys have been through a bunch of games and I expect them to have a bunch of poise at the end of the game," added Bolen on his team's ability to stay composed as the game winded down.
Final Stats
Charleston
Braden Chapman led all scorers with 27 points on 50% shooting from the field. Thomas Hailey had 15 points and seven assists while Ben Nicol logged 11 points and seven boards. Matthew Shelton nearly had a double-double, scoring nine points and grabbing 10 rebounds in the loss.
Glenville State
Elijah Redfern finished with 23 points, six rebounds and five assists as the sophomore went 9-for-11 from the free throw line.
Don Colon-Lewis nailed four three-pointers and scored 18 points with eight rebounds while
Jalen Knott added 16 points.
Prince Mosengo (12 points) and
Ammar Maxwell (10 points) were also effective for the blue and white.
Up Next For The Pioneers
The Pioneers move on to take on No. 1 seeded West Liberty in the MEC Tournament Semifinals on Saturday (Mar. 7) at 6 p.m.
