Box Score CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Charleston suffered a hard fought 89-76 loss Saturday evening to #2 ranked West Liberty University at Eddie King Gym to open up the Mountain East Conference schedule.
 
UC found themselves trailing 11-6 at the first media timeout with seven of the Hilltopper points coming from Cedric Harris which would be prove to be a theme for the evening.  West Liberty came out of the timeout pushing tempo and causing havoc in backcourt, quickly extending the lead to 11, 24-13 before forcing a Golden Eagle timeout. 
 
Charleston regrouped coming out of the 30 second break to get the deficit back to single digits at the nine minute mark on a Xavier Humphrey three from the left wing, 31-22.  Aleks Kesic kept the lead around 10 for the next five minutes with his bullish inside play and conversions around the rim. 
 
The Hilltopper lead remained at 10 at the final media timeout with the scoreboard showing 39-29 and 4:45 remaining in the half. West Liberty scored the next six points to grab the 16-point lead but a Denzel Douglas lay-up and free throw trimmed it back to 13, 45-32. A last second layup off a missed free throw by the Hilltoppers put them on top 51-35 heading into the break.
 
Cedric Harris led the Hilltoppers with 17 first half points and West Liberty outrebounded Charleston 24-13 at the break, leading to eight second chance points.  UC got nine first half points from Douglas and eight from Kesic to lead the Golden Eagles.
 
Douglas and Kesic opened up the half with baskets to get the lead down to 12, 51-39, before West Liberty put a stop to the early Golden Eagle run with a deep three by Keene Cockburn. UC refused to go away, again keeping the deficit down to 12 points at the first media timeout of the second half.
 
Charleston continued to whittle down the Hilltopper lead, trailing by just nine, with 12 minutes to go after a Kesic jumper in the lane.  Kesic hit another jumper from the free throw line after an empty Hilltopper possession followed by a Tino diTrapano free throw to draw within six.  Shawn Dyer responded the next time down the floor with a four-point play to push it back out to double digits, 67-57.
 
Trailing by nine with five minutes to go Xavier Humphrey got a three to go to only trail by six, 75-69, at the final media timeout.    West Liberty went on a 8-2 run fueled by Ced Harris to once again grab a double digit lead, 83-71, with just under three minutes remaining.
 
The Hilltoppers proved to be too much down the stretch with West Liberty knocking down their free throws and leaving Charleston with an 89-76 win.
 
West Liberty was led by Harris' game-high 26 points on 8-for-12 shooting from the field and 9-for-10 at the free throw line.  Dyer scored 18 for the Hilltoppers and Keene Cockburn turned in a double-double scoring 13 points and pulling down 14 rebounds.  The win improves the #2 ranked Hilltoppers to 4-0 overall and 1-0 in the MEC.
 
Charleston got an outstanding game from Aleks Kesic who hit on 11 of his 12 field goal attempts for 23 points.  Xavier Humphrey overcame a tough first half to finish with 14 points, five assists, five rebounds, and three blocks.  The loss drops UC to 3-1 on the season and 0-1 in the Mountain East.
 
UC gets back in action on the hardwood Monday as they make a trip north to Wheeling to take on the Cardinals.