Charleston, W.Va. –The Golden Eagles defeated non-conference opponent Salem University in the Wehrle Arena on Wednesday evening. Zach Loveday posted a double-double in the victory, 23 points and 11 rebounds.
 
The Basics:
Location: Wehrle Innovation Center
Score: UC 91, SU 84
Records: UC 13-9 (9-6 MEC) Salem 5-18
 
How it Happened:
Despite scoring the first bucket of the game, the Golden Eagles quickly found themselves trailing in the Wednesday evening contest against the Tigers of Salem University. Charleston head coach James Long called an early timeout after trailing 9-4 after three minutes of play. Following the timeout the Tigers scored the next four points, taking a nine-point advantage over the Golden Eagles. Charleston then began to respond with a three-point play, a layup and successful and one by Ja'Corey Lipkins. Then a defensive board, an offensive board and a put back by Zach Loveday to cut the deficit down to four-points.
 
Moments later, a Lipkins three and another Loveday putback brought Charleston within one. Loveday was fouled on the play and successfully completed the three-point play, tying the contest at 15-15. Shortly after a Jalen Rivens shot from beyond the arc gave Charleston the lead and they held it for the remainder of the half, eventually heading to the locker room up by 17-points, 49-32 over the Salem Tigers.
 
Coming out of the half, Charleston scored the first four points on bac- to0back layups, extending their lead to 21. From there, the Tigers began to claw their way back into the contest, cutting the lead in half down to 11, Charleston ahead 57-46. The Golden Eagles then went on a 5-0 run to extend their lead back to 16, but Salem was not finished just yet. The two teams fought back and forth for the next few minutes, trading buckets, Salem capitalizing on a few defensive boards to cut the deficit down to nine. The Tigers then went on a 4-point run to cut the Charleston lead down to just five-points with just over six minutes left in the contest.
 
Ja'Corey Lipkins responded with a three and and then Obinna Ugwuakazi picked up a defensive board and capitalized on a fast break layup to get Charleston's lead back to nine-points. Salem tried to cut the lead once more, but their efforts were not enough and the Golden Eagles held on to collect the win, 91-84.
 
Zach Loveday matched his career high with 23 points in the contest along with 11 rebounds for the double-double. Ja'Corey Lipkins had 22 points in the victory and Dwaine Jones collected 10 assists.
 
Up Next:
Charleston will head to Point Park on Saturday to return to Mountain East Conference play. Tipoff is set for 4:00PM on February 15^th in Pittsburgh.