WHEELING, W. Va. – The University of Charleston Golden Eagles Men's Basketball team increased their win streak to seven game on Friday as they defeated the Bobcats from West Virginia Wesleyan in the Quarterfinal round of the MEC Tournament at WesBanco Arena in Wheeling, W. Va. The Golden Eagles were led offensively by
Devon Robinson, who recorded 24 points and 12 rebounds.
JUST THE BASICS
SCORE: Charleston 71, West Virginia Wesleyan 59
LOCATION: Wheeling, W. Va. – WesBanco Arena
TEAM RECORDS: Golden Eagles (24-5, 17-5 MEC), Bobcats (12-18, 10-12 MEC)
HOW IT HAPPENED
Charleston scored the opening bucket 45-seconds into the game on a layup from Robinson but four Golden Eagle turnovers in the first four minutes of play allowed for Wesleyan to tie the game up at 4-4 at the 15:45 mark in the first half. Senior
Drew Rackley sent UC into the first media timeout of the half up 7-4 after a three-ball gave Charleston the lead back. Out of the timeout, turnovers continued to haunt Charleston as the Bobcats used a 4-0 run to regain the lead at 8-7. Back-and-forth basketball pursued, as five lead changes in seven possessions had the Golden Eagles ahead 14-12 at the 9:39 mark. Wesleyan's Daylin Lee led all scorers at the halfway point in the first half with eight points (4-of-5 FG) while Robinson led Charleston with six.
The remainder of the second half saw Wesleyan take a three-point lead before Charleston tied the game at 18-18 with 4:13 remaining. Tied at 22-22, the Golden Eagles closed out the half on a 10-3 run which included three-pointers from Rackley and Robinson to send Charleston into the locker room with a 32-25 lead.
For the half, Robinson led all scorers with 12 points while the Golden Eagles shot the ball 48.1% from the field (13-of-27). The Golden Eagles and Bobcats each turned the ball over six times while Charleston held the advantage in three-pointers with four compared to Wesleyan's one. A 6-0 advantage in second-chance points in favor of Charleston helped UC extend their lead into the break while the Golden Eagles did a fantastic job at limiting the output from Dusan Vicentic (2 points), who averages 17.4 points per game.
The Golden Eagles and Bobcats shared buckets to open the second half with Charleston able to extend their lead to ten at the 14:07 mark. Out of the timeout, Lee sank a pair of free throws to pull the Bobcat deficit back to single digits. It was Lee who kept the Bobcats in contention as eight second-half points through the first nine minutes of play kept the Golden Eagles on their toes. With six minutes to go and Charleston leading by nine, Wesleyan changed the pace of the game on a made three from Jaylin Reed to bring the score to 58-52 in favor of Charleston headed into the final media break. The game continued to bounce back-and-forth as a three-ball from Luka Petrovic at the 1:42 mark brought the score to 64-57 with Wesleyan calling a timeout. After Wesleyan fouled three times to put Charleston into the bonus, the Golden Eagles were able to capture victory by a score of 71-59 to move on to the Semifinal round on Saturday evening.
In the win, Robinson recorded his 16
th double-double of the season (23
rd of career) while also surpassing 700 points at Charleston. Rackley moved into 5
th in Golden Eagle history in three pointers in a season (91) and a career (169) while
Seth O'Neal moved into 8
th place for assists in a season with 159.
Charleston Leaders (25-52, 48.0 percent from the field)
Devon Robinson – 24 points, 12 rebounds, one assist
Seth O'Neal – 15 points, seven assists, five rebounds
Lamont McManus– 12 points, four rebounds, two assists
Bobcat Leaders (23-of-61, 38.0 percent from the field)
Luka Petrovic – 18 points, four assists, two rebounds
Daylin Lee – 18 points, five rebounds, one assist
Up Next:
The Golden Eagles will head into the MEC Tournament Semifinals on Saturday against the winner of Fairmont State/Glenville State with tip scheduled for 8:15 p.m. at WesBanco Arena.
