SEMIFINAL FRIDAY at the West Virginia Conference tournament is usually one of the best sports nights of the year in our fair capital city.

It's just so stunning that it will take place without West Virginia State.

I readily admit that I ingested the Kool-Aid on this bunch. This appeared to be coach Bryan Poore's best Yellow Jackets team yet, had won 18 in a row after a loss at Shepherd and often looked like the greatest show on Earth along the way.

Ted Scott, back from losing last season to injury, was a wire-to-wire league MVP. Darren Jones fit in nicely and Ricky Jackson mixed the right amount of ball skills and bad intentions at power forward. When Wade Pidock returned from injury, it looked like all the pieces were in place.

And it looked like we would have an epic Friday night, with West Liberty and Alderson-Broaddus in the 6:30 opener and State battling Pitt Johnstown in the nightcap.

But Wheeling Jesuit, the freshman-loaded No. 9 seed, wrecked that scenario. Or State fumbled it. Take your pick.

As Poore faced the media afterward, he gave the Cardinals their fair share of credit. And really, you've got to like the future for that bunch, no matter what happens tonight. Cedric Harris, who had 20 points Thursday, was the WVC's freshman of the year, and Steve Catich (19 points) and Obi Ukwuoma (11 points, nine rebounds) are other freshmen of note.

In the second half, as the Cardinals seized the lead at 57-55 and quickly padded the margin to 10, you could see that they've grown up. You could see a wave of confidence wash across them, as they didn't let State off the deck until the final minutes, when it was too late to erase a 14-point deficit.

"We're a young team and we looked a little young at times," said Wheeling coach Danny Sancomb. "But these guys have developed, and we just continue to get better all year. We went to West Virginia State and they just pummeled us [112-76 on Jan. 12]. But we're a different team from that part of the season. We've gotten bigger and stronger throughout the year."

But this wasn't all about Wheeling. State put itself in trouble by taking a nine-point lead three times and not doing what it usually does - deliver the kill. Scott's shot was out of sync, Jones forced too many shots and Jackson vanished after halftime.

State took 42 3-point shots, way too many, even when accounting for a desperation barrage in the final minutes. They made just 13, and hit just 36.7 percent from all distances.

But you know what stat flew off the sheet at me? Free-throw shooting, where State went just 4-of-5. These Yellow Jackets are loaded with players who usually take the ball right to their opponents, and often get to the foul line because of it. Entering the tournament, they were good for at least 23 free-throw attempts a game.

That was a symptom of what Poore called his team's most disappointing performance in a long time.

"We were tentative," Poore said. "We didn't start off on the right foot, and then ... we were tentative. We weren't aggressive. Give Wheeling the credit, because I thought they were the aggressor. They played to win and we played not to lose."

State can abandon those designs on playing host to an NCAA Division II regional. The good thing is, they can regroup and take their act to Erie, Pa., home of region leader Gannon, in all likelihood.

At least we think State will still get a tournament bid. But Poore wasn't even counting on that at the end of a day he described as dominated by bad karma.

"I have no idea. I've been in this too long," Poore said. "I can't bank on that. You leave it in someone's hands to vote on now, and it's not mine. It would not surprise me if we didn't get in. I mean, we won two games last week and went from fourth to fifth. So you lose a game, and all it takes is a couple more spots and you're out."

SEMIFINAL FRIDAY at the West Virginia Conference tournament is usually one of the best sports nights of the year in our fair capital city.

It's just so stunning that it will take place without West Virginia State.

I readily admit that I ingested the Kool-Aid on this bunch. This appeared to be coach Bryan Poore's best Yellow Jackets team yet, had won 18 in a row after a loss at Shepherd and often looked like the greatest show on Earth along the way.

Ted Scott, back from losing last season to injury, was a wire-to-wire league MVP. Darren Jones fit in nicely and Ricky Jackson mixed the right amount of ball skills and bad intentions at power forward. When Wade Pidock returned from injury, it looked like all the pieces were in place.

And it looked like we would have an epic Friday night, with West Liberty and Alderson-Broaddus in the 6:30 opener and State battling Pitt Johnstown in the nightcap.

But Wheeling Jesuit, the freshman-loaded No. 9 seed, wrecked that scenario. Or State fumbled it. Take your pick.

As Poore faced the media afterward, he gave the Cardinals their fair share of credit. And really, you've got to like the future for that bunch, no matter what happens tonight. Cedric Harris, who had 20 points Thursday, was the WVC's freshman of the year, and Steve Catich (19 points) and Obi Ukwuoma (11 points, nine rebounds) are other freshmen of note.

In the second half, as the Cardinals seized the lead at 57-55 and quickly padded the margin to 10, you could see that they've grown up. You could see a wave of confidence wash across them, as they didn't let State off the deck until the final minutes, when it was too late to erase a 14-point deficit.

"We're a young team and we looked a little young at times," said Wheeling coach Danny Sancomb. "But these guys have developed, and we just continue to get better all year. We went to West Virginia State and they just pummeled us [112-76 on Jan. 12]. But we're a different team from that part of the season. We've gotten bigger and stronger throughout the year."

But this wasn't all about Wheeling. State put itself in trouble by taking a nine-point lead three times and not doing what it usually does - deliver the kill. Scott's shot was out of sync, Jones forced too many shots and Jackson vanished after halftime.

State took 42 3-point shots, way too many, even when accounting for a desperation barrage in the final minutes. They made just 13, and hit just 36.7 percent from all distances.

But you know what stat flew off the sheet at me? Free-throw shooting, where State went just 4-of-5. These Yellow Jackets are loaded with players who usually take the ball right to their opponents, and often get to the foul line because of it. Entering the tournament, they were good for at least 23 free-throw attempts a game.

That was a symptom of what Poore called his team's most disappointing performance in a long time.

"We were tentative," Poore said. "We didn't start off on the right foot, and then ... we were tentative. We weren't aggressive. Give Wheeling the credit, because I thought they were the aggressor. They played to win and we played not to lose."

State can abandon those designs on playing host to an NCAA Division II regional. The good thing is, they can regroup and take their act to Erie, Pa., home of region leader Gannon, in all likelihood.

At least we think State will still get a tournament bid. But Poore wasn't even counting on that at the end of a day he described as dominated by bad karma.

"I have no idea. I've been in this too long," Poore said. "I can't bank on that. You leave it in someone's hands to vote on now, and it's not mine. It would not surprise me if we didn't get in. I mean, we won two games last week and went from fourth to fifth. So you lose a game, and all it takes is a couple more spots and you're out."

As much of a good story as Wheeling might be, tonight's first game between West Liberty and A-B becomes the marquee matchup of the week. And don't sneak into the Civic Center late, unless you want to miss a boatload of points.

West Liberty scored 24 in the first 5:03 of Thursday's quarterfinal win over Fairmont State, and threatened to turn that contest into a pinball match.

That didn't quite happen, as the 3-pointers quit falling and the Hilltoppers had to fight off the Falcons to win 96-93. The game wasn't really in West Liberty's control until Ben Howlett converted a catch-and-shoot three-point play in the lane with 1:31 left to give his team an 87-82 lead.

This team likes to run, loves to whip the ball around and didn't mind taking 34 of its 62 shots from 3-point range Thursday. Howlett, a 6-foot guard, 5-11 guard Corey Pelle and 6-5 forward Shane Maynard are the leading weapons.

(An aside: Am I hallucinating, or has Maynard played at the Civic Center my entire adult life?) 

The Hilltoppers may be underdog, but they have some NCAA Division II tournament at-large life. Conventional wisdom says A-B has punched its ticket.

By the way, the Hilltoppers' scoring average went down to 99.4 per game Thursday. Yes, I said down.

"They've got great depth, and they're all basketball players," said A-B coach Greg Zimmerman. "They feed off each other, they're very unselfish and make the extra pass. And they take a lot of 3s and get long rebounds and get good shots off those, too. Their pressure's pretty good, they've pressed a lot this season and they turned Fairmont over a few times late and that hurt them there.

"They're going to score. I don't know if you really want to get in a track meet with them, but that's what they want to do. We can run a little bit, too, but we've got to make them guard us, too. But they're very good."

So is A-B, and has been much of this decade under Zimmerman. This edition is much like all the others - the same five starters almost all season, a short bench, not much height but the Battlers are athletic and never seem to wear down.

They flat-out flattened Shepherd in the second half Thursday, winning 87-61. Sam Liggins canned a ridiculous 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer, turning a four-point lead into seven and never let the Rams get back in it. It was a fine exhibition of glass-slipper crushing, which started on the defensive end.

"Their zone frustrated us. As a coach, I didn't have an answer of what to run against their zone," said Shepherd coach Justin Namolik. "[Terrell] Eargle and Stan Hall up top in the zone, they're just so long, and we couldn't get passes to the wing, couldn't get passes to the high post. It was very, very frustrating for us."

It will be equally frustrating for State's Poore, should he choose to watch tonight. He'd like his crack at trying to solve the Battlers, as he did when his Jackets beat A-B 104-91 on Valentine's Day.

It would have been fun to see the rematch. But it won't happen. Not in this town, anyway.

Reach Doug Smock at 304-348-5130 or dougsm...@wvgazette.com.