From West Liberty coach Jim Crutchfield's view, it looked good.
At the final buzzer, University of Charleston senior guard Anthony Anderson heaved a potential game-tying 3-pointer from just inside the half-court line. The ball bounced off the back of the rim and fell out, giving visiting West Liberty an 88-85 West Virginia Conference victory in front of an announced crowd of 212 at Eddie King Gym Monday.
"I thought it was going in," Crutchfield said. "I was right behind him. We were trying to make sure [Anderson] didn't get the ball, and it didn't quite work. Charleston played a heck of a game."
After coming back from 11 down with four minutes left, UC had the ball trailing 86-85 with 8.9 seconds left and the ball at midcourt. Warren Wallace inbounded to Brandon Ross, who kicked it back to Wallace. Wallace drove into the paint, where he was guarded West Liberty's Shane Maynard. The two collided and Wallace took a shot, which bounced off the backboard back into the hands of Maynard. No foul was called.
"It came down to that play," UC coach Greg White said. "And it didn't go our way."
Maynard, who was then fouled, suffered a small cut on his forehead. After an injury timeout, he coolly drained two foul shots with 2.9 seconds left, giving West Liberty an 88-85 lead, and setting up Anderson's heave at the buzzer.
The theme of the second half for UC was getting agonizingly close. The Golden Eagles seemed on the brink of starting a run, only to be answered on the other end by WL.
"They only hit 10 3s tonight," White said. "But they all came at opportune times."
Anderson hit a 3 with 2:50 left to pull UC within 83-78. Maynard answered with a 3 at the 2:37 mark to put West Liberty (9-2, 4-0) back up by seven.
"We have a lot of inexperienced guys, who have never played in a tight game like that against West Lib before,'' White said. "They're an excellent program."
From West Liberty coach Jim Crutchfield's view, it looked good.
At the final buzzer, University of Charleston senior guard Anthony Anderson heaved a potential game-tying 3-pointer from just inside the half-court line. The ball bounced off the back of the rim and fell out, giving visiting West Liberty an 88-85 West Virginia Conference victory in front of an announced crowd of 212 at Eddie King Gym Monday.
"I thought it was going in," Crutchfield said. "I was right behind him. We were trying to make sure [Anderson] didn't get the ball, and it didn't quite work. Charleston played a heck of a game."
After coming back from 11 down with four minutes left, UC had the ball trailing 86-85 with 8.9 seconds left and the ball at midcourt. Warren Wallace inbounded to Brandon Ross, who kicked it back to Wallace. Wallace drove into the paint, where he was guarded West Liberty's Shane Maynard. The two collided and Wallace took a shot, which bounced off the backboard back into the hands of Maynard. No foul was called.
"It came down to that play," UC coach Greg White said. "And it didn't go our way."
Maynard, who was then fouled, suffered a small cut on his forehead. After an injury timeout, he coolly drained two foul shots with 2.9 seconds left, giving West Liberty an 88-85 lead, and setting up Anderson's heave at the buzzer.
The theme of the second half for UC was getting agonizingly close. The Golden Eagles seemed on the brink of starting a run, only to be answered on the other end by WL.
"They only hit 10 3s tonight," White said. "But they all came at opportune times."
Anderson hit a 3 with 2:50 left to pull UC within 83-78. Maynard answered with a 3 at the 2:37 mark to put West Liberty (9-2, 4-0) back up by seven.
"We have a lot of inexperienced guys, who have never played in a tight game like that against West Lib before,'' White said. "They're an excellent program."
Anderson hit another 3-pointer, lowering the lead to 86-81 with two minutes left. After a foul and a WL turnover with 41 seconds left, Wallace made it 86-85 by hitting a 3 at the top of the key.
"They just kept draining incredible shots," Crutchfield said. "We don't protect leads well. We tend to keep trying to score."
In the first half, West Liberty's press and guard play helped build an early double-digit lead.
"That's really part of what we do," Crutchfield said. "We were able to get good pressure on them and then get back and shift into our zone defense and we really didn't give up a lot of layups. Where they hurt us was with those 3s."
West Liberty senior guard Ben Howlett scored 22 points, going 9-15 from the field. Corey Pelle added 18 points and Maynard 17, going 7-of-8 from the foul line.
Anderson and Ross led UC (7-4, 2-2) with 21 points each. Ross went 4-of-4 on 3s and 8-of-10 from the field.
"We're getting better," White said. "You never like to lose, but we played them tough. It was an exciting game and I really praise our effort. Both clubs were excellent tonight."
The Golden Eagles (7-4, 2-2) travel to Seton Hill Thursday.
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