In their first game at home since winter break, the Pioneers played West Virginia State on Jan. 11, at the CCAC-Allegheny gym where they won by one point with a final score of 76-75.
After this win against a Mountain East Conference teams, Point Park men’s basketball improved its overall record to 9-5 and 4-4 in the MEC. West Virginia State left with an overall record of 6-7 and 3-4 in the conference.
The game was a nail-biter that proved to challenge both teams as the scores tied seven times with six lead changes.
“The most challenging part of the game was the physicality and overall energy,” Point Park center Nazareth Fisher said.
Point Park’s game leaders were Kaden Warner with 30 points and seven assists, and Fisher with 13 rebounds.
The Yellow Jackets maintained a steady lead throughout the first half, and the Pioneers didn’t stray too far from them with the biggest point differential being eight points. The first half ended with the Yellow Jackets in the lead by two with a 44-42 score.
West Virginia State ended the first half above Point Park in field goal percentage with 51.61% against Point Park’s 47.06%.
The second half looked as though it might be a repeat of the first half with West Virginia State maintaining its lead for most of the half. The score only switched sides towards the end of the half with a Point Park lead at 72-71.
Even then, the lead was not secured for too long with the Yellow Jackets coming back to tie the game and get more points. The game-winning points came in the form of two good free throws by Warner with 23 seconds left on the clock; the game ended with a final score of 76-75.
“It was a great team win,” Point Park first-year Aiden Miller said. “With conference matchups coming up, we are ready to face against whoever is in our way.”
Both teams ended the second half with a lower field goal success rate, the Pioneers being higher than the Yellow Jackets with 37.93% against their 32.43%.
“Moving forward, we definitely need to communicate more,” Fisher said. “We sometimes struggle to talk out the defensive coverages and can sometimes get stagnant on offense.”
The Pioneers are set to play two more MEC games this week; the first being on Wednesday against Fairmont State at home with tipoff at 3 p.m. The second game is on Saturday against Frostburg State on the road with tipoff at 4 p.m.
