The non-conference portion of West Virginia State's basketball schedule is complete - but not forgotten.

"The loss up at Millersville could hurt us a little bit,'' State coach Bryan Poore was saying Monday afternoon as he drove the Yellow Jackets' van through the streets of Bowie, Md., looking for a restaurant.

As coach of one of the West Virginia Conference's elite teams, Poore knows that the events of November and December can have as much impact on the Jackets' ultimate fate as anything that happens in late February.

State lost to Shepherd 77-73 Wednesday night in the first of the January-February stretch of 18 conference games, a stretch that generally flows at a three-games-a-week pace leading up to the annual tournament at the Civic Center.

Success in the WVC is a primary goal, of course, but the Yellow Jackets in recent years have been good enough to look beyond league play.

They've qualified for the NCAA Division II tournament in three of the last five years - and narrowly missed out last year when they compiled a 20-10 record. In 2007, they reached the finals of the regional tournament but fell a basket short of moving on to the Division II championship event, the Elite Eight.

Qualifying for Division II regional play requires a WVC team to either win the conference tournament or earn a requisite regional ranking, a task that generally includes amassing a solid non-conference resume.

"When you're trying to get in the NCAA as an at-large team, non-conference games weigh heavily,'' said Poore. "You can probably get in as an at-large team with six to eight losses as long as your strength of schedule is OK. But when you get up to nine or 10 losses, you're teetering on that line as to whether you're going to get in or not.''

The non-conference portion of West Virginia State's basketball schedule is complete - but not forgotten.

"The loss up at Millersville could hurt us a little bit,'' State coach Bryan Poore was saying Monday afternoon as he drove the Yellow Jackets' van through the streets of Bowie, Md., looking for a restaurant.

As coach of one of the West Virginia Conference's elite teams, Poore knows that the events of November and December can have as much impact on the Jackets' ultimate fate as anything that happens in late February.

State lost to Shepherd 77-73 Wednesday night in the first of the January-February stretch of 18 conference games, a stretch that generally flows at a three-games-a-week pace leading up to the annual tournament at the Civic Center.

Success in the WVC is a primary goal, of course, but the Yellow Jackets in recent years have been good enough to look beyond league play.

They've qualified for the NCAA Division II tournament in three of the last five years - and narrowly missed out last year when they compiled a 20-10 record. In 2007, they reached the finals of the regional tournament but fell a basket short of moving on to the Division II championship event, the Elite Eight.

Qualifying for Division II regional play requires a WVC team to either win the conference tournament or earn a requisite regional ranking, a task that generally includes amassing a solid non-conference resume.

"When you're trying to get in the NCAA as an at-large team, non-conference games weigh heavily,'' said Poore. "You can probably get in as an at-large team with six to eight losses as long as your strength of schedule is OK. But when you get up to nine or 10 losses, you're teetering on that line as to whether you're going to get in or not.''

Thus, State's 73-69 victory at Bowie State Monday night was significant. It gave the Yellow Jackets a 4-3 record in non-conference play against opposition that, according to Poore, should benefit his team down the road.

"We always have a really high strength of schedule rating,'' he said. "That always helps us and gives us some breathing room, but you have to win some of those games. And you want to play as many games as you can against regional teams.''

Shepherd went 26-of-35 at the foul line Wednesday at Shepherdstown, compared to 14-of-15 for State.

Tyrone Roach led Shepherd (4-7, 3-1) with 20 points while Justin Jarman added 11 more. Derek Gallagher came off the bench to scored 12 points as the Rams' reserves outscored those of State 24-2.

Ted Scott scored 26 points for the Yellow Jackets (6-4, 2-1). Darren Jones tossed and Ricky Jackson contributed 18 points and grabbed 13 rebounds.

Reach Mike Whiteford at 348-7948 or mikewhitef...@wvgazette.com.