INSTITUTE, W.Va- The Charleston Men's Basketball team traveled to  West Virginia State on Saturday, February 26 to take on the Yellow Jackets on their home court. The Golden Eagles were in need of a win to secure the second seed in the Mountain East Conference Men's Basketball tournament held in Wheeling, WV.
 
THE BASICS
Location: Institute, WV         
Score: UC- 73 WVSU-81
Records: Charleston (22-6, 17-5 MEC) WV State (23-6, 18-4)
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
The Golden Eagles suffered another frustrating defeat at the hands of rival West Virginia State 81-73 on Saturday afternoon.
 
Charleston would go into halftime down just two at 33-31 but were unable to compete well enough for 40 minutes to take the road game from State. They were outscored by six in the second half at 48-42.
 
Veteran big man Lamont McManus recorded 8 points with 3 rebounds in the first half. Eddie Colbert III also had 5 first half points and 5 rebounds. Eddie ended his night with his first double-double of the year after recording 18 points and 10 rebounds. He was also 67% from beyond the arc while shooting 53.8% from the field in total on the night. Tyler Eberhart also tallied a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
 
Lamont McManus ended his night with 15 points while only picking up one second half rebound for a total of four. Both Keith Williams and Jeremiah Keene added four assists in the loss.
 
The thorn in the side for the Golden Eagles was Anthony Pittman who tallied 29 points and 10 rebounds. Glen Abram also had 21 points and four assists.
 
Charleston was lucky to get a No. 3 seed in the MEC tournament after Fairmont State was defeated by Frostburg State on Saturday.
 
Up Next
Charleston will play No. 6 Concord on Thursday in the quarterfinal game of the MEC tournament at 2:30 p.m. in Wheeling, West Virginia. For more information on the MEC basketball tournament head to mountaineast.org