Final Stats
Postgame: Notre Dame | Fairmont State 

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- Jamel Morris drained nine three-pointers to lead Fairmont State to a 71-57 win over Notre Dame College in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference Tournament. 

"I'm confident going into every game," Morris said. "With our inside presence with players like Thomas Wimbush and Nick Harney -- they're great scorers in the paint, so players and teams collapse on them and that gives shots for players like me and Chase (Morgan) and today it was working to our advantage."

"We got out to Morris, but he had nine threes -- the kid played great," Notre Dame head coach Tim Koenig said. "He played absolutely great."

Morris finished the game with 32 points to pace FSU (20-9). Thomas Wimbush scored 17 points and pulled down nine rebounds, and Nick Harney posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards.

"We thought the game would go exactly how it was played," FSU head coach Jerrod Calhoun said. "We held them to 57 points, so if we play defense like that and take care of the ball, we're really good."

NDC (15-14) was led by 15 points apiece from Tyree Gaiter and Lawrence DeArmond. Will Vorhees chipped in 10 points.

Morris drained nine of FSU's 10 threes in the game, while Notre Dame managed to shoot just 4-of-16 from behind the arc. 

Fairmont State led by nine at the break and pushed its lead to as many as 11 with just under 12 minutes to play. Notre Dame got back into the game with an 8-0 run in just two minutes, but Morris had the answer to stop the run with a three-pointer. NDC could get no closer than six the rest of the way. 

Wheeling Jesuit 73, Concord 70
Final Stats
Postgame: Concord | Wheeling Jesuit

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Third-seeded Concord and sixth-seeded Wheeling Jesuit went after each other like a pair of prize fighters hereFriday afternoon in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference Basketball Tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

When the dust settled it was Wheeling which emerged with a thrilling 73-70 victory and earned the right to advance to Saturday's semifinal round where the Cardinals will face second-seeded Fairmont State at 8:15 p.m.The Falcons eliminated seventh-seeded Notre Dame in the day's first game, 71-57.

"This was a big win for us," said WJU coach Dan Sancomb, whose team improved to 21-9. "We beat a very good basketball team. It was a gut check for us. We can get hot and shoot the ball very well and they can defend exceptionally well, so we knew it was going to be a struggle. Our guys, though, just really fought. They did a great job of bringing toughness which was needed to win a game like this."

The loss dropped Concord to 20-9 and likely put an end to the Mountain Lions' season. Concord was ranked eighth in the latest NCAA Division II Atlantic Regional Rankings.

"If you look at the last 16 games I think we were two of the hotter teams in the league," said Concord coach Kent McBride. "Even though they drew a six seed I personally think they're the second or third-best team in this league.

"Our guys knew going in this was going to be a battle and it was going to be a game where every possession matters. No team was going to get away from the other. We also knew it was going to be a game of runs which it was. We made the last one, but time just ran out on us. Tough game, but congratulations to Jesuit."

Neither team led by more than eight in the contest which featured 10 ties and six lead changes and the outcome literally wasn't decided until the final buzzer sounded.

After Wheeling's Justin Fritz hit a pair of free throws to put his team ahead 73-70 with 8.5 seconds left the Cardinals elected to foul the Mountain Lions near mid-court and put Mike Boyd on the line for a pair of free throws instead of risking a made 3-pointer by Concord with 5.9 seconds left in regulation.

"Concord has made 10 threes on us two different times this season and we didn't want to give them the chance to hit a game-tying one there," said Sancomb.

Boyd, however, missed his first free throw and then intentionally missed the second which allowed Concord to tip the rebound out, control it and call timeout with 2.2 seconds left to play. Jametrius Wade, who finished with 19 points, took the inbounds pass for the Mountain Lions and got a good look at a potential game-tying three from about 22-feet out at the top of the key but his shot bounced off of the back iron of the rim as the final horn sounded.

"He got a good look, but coming into the game he was 2-of-15 on 3-pointers for the season so if we were going to give anyone a good look he's the guy we wanted to have it," said Sancomb.

"I know my numbers don't say it, but I'm capable of making that shot," said Wade. "I practice it every day.

"I knew when we inbounded it that they would probably be face-guarding Rob (Reed) and Aaron (Miller). I first looked to pass, but they were defending the passing lanes. I knew I only had two seconds so I took a dribble and shot it. I thought it was going in, but it was a little too long."

The win was the 15th in the last 17 games for Wheeling. It also halted Concord's six-game winning streak.

Freshman forward Haywood Highsmith led the Cardinals with 19 points and 14 rebounds.

"My goal coming down here was to try to help my team win a Mountain East Conference championship," said Highsmith, who got his fifth double-double performance of the season. "As a team we're playing well right now. We just want to make a run."

Wheeling also got 14 points from Fritts, 13 from Matt Stewart 10 from Eric Seifert and eight points and 10 rebounds from Kyle Ritz.

Concord's Rob Reed led all scorers with 26 points. The Mountain Lions also got 13 points from Aaron Miller.

West Liberty 89, Shepherd 75
Final Stats
Postgame: Shepherd | West Liberty

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – Top-seeded and No. 4 ranked West Liberty grabbed the lead four seconds into its Mountain East Conference Basketball Tournament quarterfinal round game with eighth-seeded Shepherd here Friday evening at the Charleston Civic Center and never looked back en route to an 89-75 victory.

The win, the 12th in a row for the Hilltoppers, improved them to 26-2 and earns them a berth in Saturday's semifinals at 6 p.m.

The Hilltoppers' relentless pressure defense forced 10 early Ram turnovers and helped aid in West Liberty building a 23-8 advantage 10 minutes into the game.

"I thought we really came out of the blocks well to start the game at both ends of the court," said West Liberty coach Jim Crutchfield. "Defensively I thought our pressure was good and that we had a good level of intensity.

"I thought we started the second half really well too and got a comfortable lead. To Shepherd's credit there was a couple of times when I thought they were going to go away and they didn't. They hung in there. They were down 17, but I thought they did a good job of fighting back. They cut it back to nine in the first half and then had it down to six early in the second half, but it was right then that I think we probably played our best stretch of basketball."

After Shepherd's Ryan McTavish buried a 3-pointer to make it 43-37 early in the final half West Liberty responded with 22-9 run over the course of the next 6:21 to essentially end any doubt as to the game's outcome. The Hilltoppers, who made just one 3-point field goal in the opening half, drained five during that spurt.

"I have so much respect for coach Crutchfield, his program and what they do," said Shepherd coach Justin Namolik. "They're very aggressive, physical and they shoot the ball very well. They're an extremely tough team to beat. For us to beat them it would almost take a perfect game.

"It took us the first 10 minutes to get settled down and play. We were rattled. We got pushed around early, but then I thought we pushed back and I'm proud of our guys for that.

"Then at the beginning of the second half they hit some threes which hurt us. I thought we did a good job guarding against the threes in the first half, but they hurt us with them during that early run in the second half."

West Liberty's lead ballooned to as many as 25 before Shepherd made a late surge to make it respectable.

The Hilltoppers shot 49.2 percent from the field in the win (31-of-63), including a 7-of-15 showing from long range (46.7 percent). West Liberty also scored 44 points in the paint in the victory.

"We do what we do and we do it every night," said West Liberty's Seger Bonifant, the MEC's Player of the Year who led his team with a game-high 24 points on a 7-of-9 shooting performance from the field and an 8-of-8 showing at the foul line. "We play hard, play together and have fun."

West Liberty also got 19 points and 13 rebounds from C.J. Hester, 11 points from Zac Grossenbacher and 10 points from Joe Lococo. Hester's double-double outing was his team-high eighth of the season.

Shepherd, which finished the season with a 15-15 record, was led by senior Austin Cunningham's 16 points.

"All season long we've had a motto on the team which is find a purpose," said Cunningham. "When we got down early we just tried to remember that. We just kept chipping and fighting to get ourselves back in it."

The Rams, who lost their 19th straight game to West Liberty dating back to 2006, also got 15 points from Naim Muhammad, 11 points from McTavish and four points and a game-high 14 rebounds from Morgan McDonald.

Glenville State 73, Charleston 62
Final Stats

CHARLESTON, W.Va. – The Mountain East Conference will have a new tournament champion this year.

Fifth-seeded Glenville State eliminated last year's inaugural tournament winner, the fourth-seeded University of Charleston, 73-62, here Fridaynight in the quarterfinals of the Mountain East Conference Basketball Tournament at the Charleston Civic Center.

With the victory Glenville improved to 20-10 and earned a berth in the tournament semifinals where the Pioneers will face top-seeded and No. 4 ranked West Liberty (26-2). The Hilltoppers won both meetings between the teams during the regular season.

Glenville never trailed against Charleston, but the contest was close for much of the first 25 minutes. Then the Pioneers used a quick 7-0 spurt in a span of just 1:40 to turn an eight-point lead into a 15-point advantage with13:36 left to play. After that, Charleston was never able to get to within single digits of the Pioneers.

"I'm proud of our effort tonight," said Glenville coach Stephen Dye, who recorded his first 20-win season with the Pioneers and ironically the first at the school since current Charleston coach Dwaine Osborne was the coach at Glenville during the 2008-09 season. "We knew we were going to have to rebound the ball tonight to beat this team and we did that. That comes down to effort. Our ability to go get the ball tonight and to get stops against them defensively was crucial."

Glenville, which is ranked next-to-last in the MEC in rebound margin, out-rebounded Charleston 36-31 in the victory and got 10 of those boards on the offensive glass. The Pioneers also shot 46 percent from the field (23-of-50), including a 10-of-24 showing from 3-point range.

Charleston, on the other hand, struggled shooting all night. The Golden Eagles connected on just 19-of-50 field goal attempts (38 percent) and were just 9-of-29 (31 percent) on 3-pointers.

"Congratulations to Glenville," said UC coach Dwaine Osborne. "Obviously they're a very good team. They shot the ball extremely well tonight and we didn't. All year long one of our problems has been our ability to make shots. It was a tough night for us because we didn't play as well as we would've liked.

"I think maybe we fell in love a little bit with the three early on and that kind of set the tone for us. We came out gunning and it didn't work. Stephen does a great job with his team. He has the right guys taking the right shots at the right times. Tonight we didn't. We've lost 10 games now and if you go back and look I'd say in seven or eight of those games you'd find that we shot under 40 percent."

Donte Morales and Sedric Nady led Glenville State with 22 and 18 points respectively. The Pioneers also got 12 points from Brett Morris and eight points, eight rebounds and seven assists from Reggie Williams.

"We all hold each other accountable on our team and we wanted this game bad," said Nady. "It was a tight game early, but we fought to get a lead. We knew they'd made a run back at us, so we just wanted to be prepared to answer that run with one of our own and we did. In the second half every time they tried to come back on us we had an answer."

Charleston, which finished the season with a 19-10 record, got 20 points from Octavius Green, who accounted for over half of his team's made 3-pointers in the game with five himself. The Golden Eagles also got 16 points from Chris Evans and 13 points off of the bench from Vincent Dillard.