CHARLESTON, W. Va. – The University of Charleston Men's Basketball team will start their postseason journey on Friday afternoon as they take on the Bobcats from West Virginia Wesleyan at WesBanco Arena with tip set for approximately 12:00 p.m. The Golden Eagles head into the tournament playing at a high level and have been winners in their last six games dating back to January 9^th.  

Media Coverage: 
Live Stats and video feed will be available for Friday's game through the links supplied below:

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Dwaine Osborne leads the Golden Eagles into Friday fresh off an 85-78 defeat over West Virginia State on Senior Day this past weekend. The Golden Eagles were led offensively the senior duo of Drew Rackley (21 points and 3 rebounds) and Devon Robinson (16 points and 5 rebounds) who thrived in front of a packed Wehlre Innovation Center.

The Golden Eagles opened up on Saturday by scoring the first two buckets of the game to take an early 5-0 lead. It took just over three minutes for the Yellow Jackets to get on the board on a three ball by Glen Abram to bring the score to 3-5 at the 16:54 mark. Over the next four minutes the Yellow Jackets outscored the hosts 14-10 to put WVSU up by five with 11:04 to play in the half. Seth O'Neal hit a shot from behind the arc just before the midpoint of the half to bring the score to 19-17 in favor of the Yellow Jackets. The two teams when tick-for-tack to head into the break with the Golden Eagles trailing 36-38.
 
In the first half, the Golden Eagles shot 50.0% from the field, going 53.3 percent from behind the arc while the visitors shots just shy of 50 percent with a 48.8% first half performance.
 
Rackley opened up the Golden Eagles scoring effort in the second half, tying the game up 38-38. Frank Agyemang would knock down a three on the next possession giving the Yellow Jackets the three point lead, but it was off the hand of Rackley that would tie the game up once again, and his senior counterpart, Robinson who would give the Golden Eagles the lead with his second three-ball of the game. This would be the last lead change of the contest.
 
The Golden Eagles would not give up the lead, although the Yellow Jackets stayed close for the remaining 13 minutes, never trailing by more than seven points, until the 10:29 mark when junior forward Lamont McManus put the Golden Eagles up by nine points just before the media timeout.

Charleston would cling to the lead for the remaining 10 minutes of play sealing the 85-78 win on a pair of free throws in the final 16 seconds from Keith Williams.
 
While the Yellow Jackets capitalized on Golden Eagle turnovers to score fifteen points in transition, it was the Golden Eagles bench that outscored the Jackets reserves 9-0 for the contest.

Full recap and box score here
 
Scouting the Opponent:
West Virginia Wesleyan comes into the Friday holding a record of 12-17 (10-12 MEC) and won their first round matchup of the MEC tournament over Urbana by a score of 68-54. Winning back-to-back games for just the third time this season, the Bobcats are led by the trio of Dusan Vicentic (17.3 ppg, 8.6 rpg), Luka Petrovic (13.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg), and Daylin Lee (13.3 ppg, 4.4 rpg).Vicentic and Petrovic, both in their senior campaigns, have led the way for the Bobcats this season with Vicentic recording his 1,000^th career point this season against UC at the Wehlre Innovation Center; the same day Rackley reached 1,000 collegiate points (UNC-Ashville & Charleston). The trio of Vicentic, Lee, and Petrovic have been playing above their normalcy in the last five games, as the three are averaging 48.0 points per contest compared to 44.5 for the season. Against Urbana, Lee was able to record 24 points, his second-best scoring game of the season. Wesleyan has proved to be a second-half team as of late, outscoring opponents 228-190 in their last five games compared to 166-182 disadvantage in the opening frame.
 
Things to Know for Friday:

1. The Golden Eagles played one of their best all-around games this season against the Bobcats on January 8^th, recording a season-high in assists (22) and steals (15) in Charleston's 102-77 win at the Wehrle Innovation Center.
2. Against Wesleyan this season, Rackley has averaged 23.0 points in two contests while recording season-highs in field goals made (12) and steals (5) on January 8^th.
3. The Golden Eagles have shot the ball efficiently from beyond the arc this season against the Bobcats, averaging 12.0 made three's per game compared to seven for Wesleyan.

Matchup History: 
The Golden Eagles and the Bobcats have squared off 17 times in their history with Charleston holding the slim 10-7 advantage. The Golden Eagles currently hold a four-game win streak against Wesleyan with an average scoring margin of +14.25 in those games.