Summersville – The WVU Tech men’s basketball team had yet to crack the NAIA Top-25 poll since the NAIA moved to one division for the 2020-2021season.
That all changed Wednesday when the Golden Bears checked in at No. 23.
Saturday afternoon, Brescia University found out why Tech is one of the top teams in the land.
Building a 23-point halftime lead, the Golden Bears cruised to their 13th consecutive win with a 83-63 victory over the Bearcats at the Summersville Arena and Convention Center.
The contest was just the second for the Golden Bears since a Dec. 21 victory over Indiana University-East.
“I thought we were especially good in the first half and played really hard. We held them to 25 points, so that is always a good half defensively,” WVU Tech head coach James Long said. “I think part of getting back in the swing of things is getting back in shape and keeping that focus for a long period of time. We will get there. We are not happy with the second half, but if we aren’t celebrating wins along the way, there is no point in doing this.”
The Golden Bears never trailed in the contest and took their first double-digit lead with 13:07 to play in the opening half on back-to-back 3-pointers from Juvante Hayes and Keondre King.
However some shaky rebounding on the defensive end for Tech gave the Bearcats extra looks and they took full advantage.
A kick-out 3 from Tay Smith was followed by a jumper from Michael Caswell to quickly cut the lead to six points.
After a timeout by Tech, a corner 3 from Hayes was followed by a strong drive by big man Thomas Hailey which pushed the lead back to double figures at the 9:15 mark.
With Tech’s defense hounding Brescia all over the floor, turnovers turned into scores quickly and Tech started to pull away.
Gunner Short scored 11 of his game-high 21 points in just over a minute to build a 17-point lead. When the first half horn sounded, the Golden Bears held a 48-25 lead.
“They had seven second-chance points, but all of the others were tough shots. We didn’t foul them, so they were just making tough shots,” Long said. “The first half is who we should be defensively. I don’t think teams should score 30 points on us in a half. These guys to a great job.”
At the break, Tech had outscored the Bearcats 14-2 in the paint and went 9-of-17 from behind the arc. The Golden Bears held Brescia to just 32 percent shooting from the floor also.
The focus on defense was to take out the Bearcats top weapon and force the other players to step up.
“We just wanted to focus on Tay Smith today. He is a catch and shoot guy that wants to shoot pull-ups,” assistant head coach George Wilmore said. “If a team has a great player, we want to take them out of the game and make them take tough shots. (Brescia) gets in transition 26 percent of the time, so if they get in transition, they are going to shoot 3’s and get downhill on you.”
The biggest lead of the contest came with eight minutes left to play at 78-45. The last eight minutes however, the Bearcats outscored Tech 18-5 which did not sit well with the coaching staff.
“The last two games we haven’t had a great second half,” Wilmore said. “The first half kinda gave us that crutch. We have to put two halves together if we are going to be a championship team.”
After dropping an 80-53 loss to Rio Grande Thursday and having a rough start Saturday, Brescia head coach Sarah Gayler saw the second half as a building block for her team.
“We had a tough first half, but we came back and won the second half. They are a very physical team and very aggressive,” Gayler said. “What we needed to do was put them at a disadvantage, but we had a hard time getting that whether it was setting screens for each other or making back-cuts. We have a small roster right now with only nine players. Just to be able to fight with what we had was good and we are getting better.”
The Bearcats fall to 5-12 on the season.
Andreas Jonsson scored 16 for Tech, while Hayes ended with 14. King ended with nine and Andrew Work scored eight. Short also had seven assists in the game.
The win moves WVU Tech to 16-2 on the year and 7-0 in the River States Conference. The Golden Bears are scheduled to host Oakland University in Summersville on Monday at 1 p.m.
BU: 25 38 – 63
WVUT: 48 35 – 83
Brescia University
Jeremy Stewart 7, Tay Smith 15, Micahel Caswell 12, John Saenz 3, Jalen Rose 2, Tre Pillow 13, Obray Rufus 8, Calvonta Shaw 3. Totals: 21-52 16-22 63.
WVU Tech
Andrew Work 8, Ashton Parker 6, Andreas Jonsson 16, Juvante Hayes 14, Gunner Short 21, Keondre’ King 9, Thomas Hailey 4, Phillip Mullins 5. Totals: 28-54 12-13 83.
3-pointers – BU: 5 (Smith 2, Caswell, Saenz, Rufus); WVUT: 15 (Jonsson 4, Hayes 4, Short 4, KIng 3).