Sam Santilli -- www.SSPWV.com

Men's Basketball

Charleston Defeats West Liberty, 63-60

Charleston 63, West Liberty 60
Box Score
Photo Gallery
Charleston Postgame Press Conference (MP3) 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Charleston's Xavier Humphrey's three-pointer with :16 seconds left lifted the Golden Eagles to the 2014 Mountain East Conference Tournament championship on Sunday afternoon at the Charleston Civic Center.

UC (21-8) was led by Mountain East Conference Tournament MVP  Fred Simpson who finished the game with 15 points and 11 rebounds. Denzel Douglas had 16 points, and Xavier Humphrey had 14 points and seven rebounds. Humphrey was also named to the MEC All-Tournament team.

C.J. Hester and Shawn Dyer each had 14 points to lead West Liberty (26-3), which was held to its lowest point total in the Jim Crutchfield era. 

Charleston shot 56 percent in the second half as it rallied from a seven-point deficit at the break. Holding a four-point lead with 3:13 to go, back-to-back baskets from Dyer and Hester tied the game up at 58-58, and the teams exchanged made free throws to tie it at 60-60 with :54 seconds to go.

On WLU's possession, Dyer drove to the middle but lost the handle giving Charleston the ball, setting the stage for Humphrey's game-winner with :16 seconds left. Dyer's attempt from the top of the key wouldn't go down as UC celebrated the first MEC Tournament championship.

West Liberty and Charleston have been consistently in the top four in the Atlantic Regional rankings, and will await bids to the NCAA Tournament tonight at 10:30 p.m. when the selection show is aired on NCAA.com

2014 Mountain East Conference
All-Tournament Team

Stevie Browning (Fairmont State)
Lamar Mallory (Glenville State)
C.J. Hester (West Liberty)
Cedric Harris (West Liberty)
Shawn Dyer (West Liberty)
Denzel Douglas (Charleston)
Xavier Humphrey (Charleston)
MVP: Fred Simpson (Charleston)

2014 MEC Tournament Sportsmanship Award: Seger Bonifant (West Liberty)
2014 MEC Tournament Commissioner's Heart & Hustle Award: C.J. Hester (West Liberty)
2014 MEC Tournament Highest Scoring Average: Lawrence DeArmond (Notre Dame), 31 ppg