The cast of characters were a little different Saturday, but the results were the same on Senior Day inside the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.
Knocking down 14-of-26 shots from behind the arc, WVU Tech routed Ohio Christian University 98-73 in front of a Homecoming crowd, sweeping the season series.
“I like where we are at right now. We have been through a lot together, but we just keep taking it in stride together. No basketball team has a prefect season right now. Every team is going through things,” WVU Tech head coach James Long said. “It is just how you handle it from there. You get good luck and bad luck in life. It’s what you do with it. These guys have done a great job moving forward. I am really proud of them.”
The Trailblazers jumped out to a 6-2 lead behind strong play inside from 6-foot-10, 280-pound senior Yuryk Lazard.
“We are still figuring some thing out defensively and Lazard is a big presence. He is good. He is skilled, can pass and he can finish. He has a big body and is going to get where he needs to go,” Long said. “I thought we did a good job moving forward from there executing the scouting report.”
Back-to-back 3-pointers from Deondre’ King and an old school three-point play from Andrew Work gave the Golden Bears the lead for good.
“We are just a little spurty at times and you can’t have that when you are trying to win a conference tournament and compete at Nationals. We have to make sure we are more consistent moving forward,” Long said.
Tech kept the pressure on the visitors when King drilled his third triple of the game in transition and a steal from Work ended in a bunny for Juvante Hayes.
When Thomas Hailey finished strong at the rim after finding Saliou Diop for a slam on the previous trip, Tech’s four point deficit had turned into a 14-point lead.
A 3-pointer from Luke Vass as the clock approached the midway point of the first half pushed the Golden Bears lead to 20.
Tech led 50-31 at halftime and was never seriously threatened in the second half in the lopsided win.
“We need to clean up some things defensively, but offensively, 98 points, they do a good job of taking on the defense,” Long said.
The sharpshooters for Tech were on point Saturday going 9-for-18 from deep in the first half and 14-for-26 overall.
King made all six of his eight deep attempts in the first half, while Hayes knocked home four and Vass made three.
“Keondre’ stepped up big. Juvante didn’t shoot it overly well today, but he will. He can really shoot it and Luke, we know he can shoot it. He believes every shot is going in,” Long said. “We have some guys that can make shots and guys that can attack the rim. We have a little bit of everything.”
The Golden Bears ability to knock down shots has been no accident according to assistant head coach Payton Sturm.
“We have a lot of guys that spend a lot of time in the gym. You are what you practice and we practice a lot of shooting. We are No. 1 statistically in the country on unguarded jump shots,” Sturm said. “It is just a testament to how much our guys get in the gym. If we get open shots, we are going to make them.”
Hayes finished with a game-high 26 points, while King scored 18 and Hailey 14. The Fayette County Connection of Work and Vass scored 13 and nine respectively.
Tech outscored the Trailblazers 42-22 in the paint and held Lazard to eight points in the game.
“I thought our bigs did a good job of holding their own down there. We had to make some adjustments at halftime to keep some guys out of foul trouble, but I think they did a good job,” Sturm said. “It starts with our guys on the ball not letting them throw it in there easy. We did a good job pushing the catch out and not letting them catch it right on the rim and turn and score.”
WVU Tech moved its record to 24-4 overall and 15-2 in the River States Conference. The Golden Bears open RSC Tournament play Wednesday at 5:30 p.m. The opponent is still to be determined.
OCU: 31 42 – 73
WVUT: 50 48 – 98
Ohio Christian
Jimmy Salamone 3, Keason Lowe 9, Justin Barksdale 14, Ben Casey 5, Yuryk Lazard 8, Juan Woods 11, Isaac Siemen 2, Josh Wilhelm 6, Kevin Miller 1, Titus Burns 14. Totals: 25-63 15-19 73.
WVU Tech
Andrew Work 13, Ashton Parker 6, Keondre King 18, Juvante Hayes 26, Thomas Hailey 14, -Luke Vass 9, Philip Mullins 6, Kobe Rozell 2, Saliou Diop 4. Totals: 37-71 10-15 98.