Box Score BOX SCORE

Bluefield, WV - Charleston is able to overcome hot early shooting from Bluefield State to get their 10th victory of the season, 81-71.

Bluefield State carried a winless record into the contest against UC but played very inspired basketball and shot the ball extremely well in the first half to just trail the Golden Eagles by 4 points going into the break.  The Blues were very successful from behind the 3 point line shooting 55% in the first 20 minutes of action.  The 1st half was back and forth with each team building small leads throughout and UC relied on some bench points from Hayden Annett (Portland, Australia) and energy from Quincy Washington (Florence, SC) to take the lead 42-38 as they went to the locker room.  Evan Faulkner (Sandyhook, Ky.) led UC with 10 points at the half and in the process moved up to 8th all time in made 3-point FG's at the University of Charleston.

The second half was highly contested and very physical as the whistle didn't blow much, especially in favor of the Golden Eagles.  Charleston got back to their defensive pressure and were able to force the Blues into taking tougher shots and forcing turnovers, 22 for the game.  The turnovers led to some easy chances for UC and inspired the play of Terrell Lipkins (Canton, Ohio).  Lipkins was able to control the play for the next 20 minutes in every way possible, finding open looks for teammates, helping out on the glass, and putting the ball through the hoop.  The Golden Eagles were able to build a 10 point lead with about 4 minutes remaining and seemed to have put the game away.  The Blues had other plans and slowly crept back into the game behind their three workhorses Roy Cooper, Vincent Rogers, and Joseph Dawkins.

Bluefield State made it a one possesion game after a Rogers putback with UC leading 74-71 with about 1 minute remaining in regulation.  Charleston responded with a Corey Jackson (Louisville, KY) and 1 layup from a feed from Lipkins that pushed the lead to 77-71 and iced the game for the Golden Eagles with 49 seconds to go.  UC was able to hit their free throws down the stretch and keep the Blues from knocking down long range shots to give them another double-digit victory, 81-71.

Charleston was led by Lipkins who finished 2 rebounds shy of a triple-double, going for 20 pts. 10 assists and 8 rebounds.  UC also got a solid effort from Faulker who scored a season high 18 pts in the win.  For the game the Golden Eagles shot just 22% from 3-point land going 6-27, but were successful inside of the arc shooting 52%. 

Bluefield State was led by Rogers with 19 points, followed by Cooper (18 pts) and Dawkins (16 pts).  Treon Claiborne was active on the glass and finished with a game high 13 rebounds for the Blues.

Up next for Charleston is a battle with rival WV State University this Saturday with tip-off set to begin at 6:00pm.  WVSU is coming off a 1-point win over Shepherd, who UC lost to in overtime earlier in the season but were missing Dreher and Lipkins for the contest at Shepherd.