CHARLESTON, W.VA -- The University of Charleston Men's Basketball team (14-11, 8-11 MEC) fell short in an at home thriller against the Rams of Shepherd University (16-9, 13-6 MEC) on Thursday night. 

THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE – Shepherd 75, Charleston 74
LOCATION – Charleston, W.Va. – Wehrle Athletic Arena
RECORDS – Charleston (14-11, 8-11 MEC); Shepherd (16-9, 13-6 MEC)

HOW IT HAPPENED
- Shepherd opened up the scoring when forward Winston Burgess slammed the ball through the hoop for the first bucket of the game. Shepherd took off on a six point run before red-shirt junior LeJavius Johnson dropped a three ball at 17:39. Shepherd continued to to build their advantage, leading by as many as 13 points before the first timeout of the half. 
- Keir Anderson and Justin Coleman led the Golden Eagles through the first half. They combined for 27 of Charleston's 38 points. Charleston fought back to shrink the Ram's lead to 8 points before heading to the locker room down 45-38. 
- After a slow start to the second half by UC the Rams led 57-43 before the first timeout of the second half. Despite the second chance efforts by Charleston, Shepherd led by as much as 13 after a jumper by AJ Car, but the Golden Eagles turned on the juice for the following three minutes to bring the score to 75-74. 
- After the Rams missed their last chance bucket to go up by three the Golden Eagles pushed the ball up the floor, but missed the last second three sending them to the locker room with Shepherd on top 75-74. 

GOLDEN EAGLES LEADERS
- Junior guard Keir Anderson scored 21 points for the Golden Eagles, including 2 shots from beyond the arc, and 7-of-8 from the foul line. 
- Senior Justin Coleman notched another double-double with 17 points and 15 rebounds.

SHEPHERD INDIVIDUAL LEADERS
- Forward AJ Carr led the Rams with a double double that included 24 points, 11 rebounds, and three assists. 
- Junior Skyler Roman was close behind with 15 points and 3 rebounds. The guard went 2-for-5 from the three point line. 

STAT CHECK
- Charleston shot 48.0 percent from the field and went 7-of-18 from the three point line.
- UC outscored the Rams 12-8 on second chance buckets. 
- The UC bench outscored the Shepherd Bench 22-2.
- Shepherd's largest lead of the night was 17.

UP NEXT
- The Golden Eagles will conclude their home slate on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. against Fairmont State. 
- UC will be honoring its' two seniors before tipoff. 

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