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Courtesy Barton College
Sports Information Office
WILSON , NC – Six players scored in double
figures Saturday afternoon as 2nd-seeded West Virginia State broke
open a close game early in the second half and cruised to a 103-89
victory over 7th-seeded Edinboro University in the opening round
of the East Regional Men's Basketball Tournament at Barton
College.
The 22 nd-rankedYellow Jackets (27-6) advanced
to Sunday's 5 p.m. semifinal, where they will face a familiar foe
in 19th -ranked Alderson-Broaddus, who topped Salem International
64-58.
Senior guard Chris Dunn powered the Jackets'
attack with 26 points, while Anton Duncan, a 6-5, 245-pound junior
center, added 20 points and eight rebounds. Senior 6-7 forward
Vaselin Veselinov netted 14 points and eight rebounds; sophomore
Ted Scott tallied 14 points; junior forward Tony Cornett canned 12
points and pulled seven boards; and senior guard Dermayne Bullock
scored 10 points.
Both teams shot the ball well from the floor,
but it was at the foul line that West Virginia State earned the
win, scouring the nets for 91.7-percent accuracy at 33-for-36.
Edinboro was just 16-of-28 from the stripe for 57.1 percent.
“I thought our defensive
transition wasn't that good in the beginning, but I think we
picked it up as the half went on,” Edinboro head coach Greg
Walcavich said. “We can play a transition game, but I thought
it was beneficial to try to play a half-court game. The inability
to keep them off the line was the difference in the game. We
missed some free throws and they made a lot. It seemed like we
missed one, they made six. We missed one, they made six more. That
had a lot to do with going from 53-53 to falling way behind.”
From the floor, the Jackets were 32-of-66 for
48.5 percent while Edinboro was 32-of-61 for 52.5 percent. The
Jackets could not stop the senior tandem of 6-8 senior Daren
Tielsch (34 points, 12 rebounds) and 5-10 guard Torry Mitchell (27
points, five assists).
Duncan and Tielsch had their way inside on
opposite ends of the court.
“We just have good guards who get
the ball to us in good position,” Duncan said. As for
Tielsch, he said: “Not only is he strong, he's very fast.
I've never played anyone like that.”
Dunn was also complimentary of the guard on the
other side.
“He (Mitchell) is the quickest
player I've played against all year,” Dunn said. “We
tried to pressure them and get them out of their rhythm. We got a
lot of points off of turnovers (19). That was a key.”
West Virginia State couldn't stop the
hot-shooting Fighting Scots early on and found itself trailing
28-21 with 10:43 left in the first half. However, Vaselinov, Dunn
and Duncan jump-started the favorites, who pulled ahead 49-45
after a Dunn 3-pointer tickled the twine as the halftime buzzer
sounded.
Mitchell's field goal with 17:59 left in the
game pulled the Scots even at 53. That's when West Virginia State
began to take control, going on a 19-5 run for a 14-point lead at
72-58 with 13:23 left. The lead was 10 or more points the rest of
the way.
“ West Virginia State is a good team
that's capable of scoring,” Tielsch said. “It wasn't
about us scoring; it was about stopping them from scoring.”
“They're a very good team,”
Mitchell said. “We tried to get back in transition, but we
couldn't stop them from scoring. That was the story of the game.”
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