Published: November 16, 2008 02:42 am            

Glenville holds off Bobcats

FAIRMONT — For the better part of 29 minutes, it looked like Glenville State was going to run away and hide in its season opener against West Virginia Wesleyan here Saturday evening in the first game of the Global Science and Technology-Fairmont State University Tip-Off Classic at the Joe Retton Arena.

However, college basketball games last 40 minutes and it took all 40 for the Pioneers to finally dispose of the pesky Bobcats, 84-69, in a game which will not count in the West Virginia Conference standings.

Led by Tryvan Leech, Glenville raced to a 50-31 lead at the half and held a seemingly comfortable 67-46 advantage with 10:44 remaining. But Wesleyan refused to fold. Instead, the Bobcats fought back and went on an 18-2 run during a 4:48 span to trim Glenville State’s lead to five with 5:54 to play.

“We know Bill Lilly-coached teams don’t quit,” said GSC coach Dwaine Osborne. “I kept telling our guys they were going to come back and make a run on us. I knew we had to keep our poise and handle it.

“They made a little run at the beginning of the half, but I felt like we managed it and got it back up around 20, but boy we almost had a meltdown there late. Still, we won by 15 and we're very thankful to get the win. It might be easy to say we played well because we won by 15, but I think we were very fortunate that we shot the ball so well tonight.”

GSC nailed 60.8 percent of its shots from the field (31-of-51) which helped the Pioneers overcome 26 turnovers. The catalyst for Glenville was Leech, who finished with a game-high 29 points and six rebounds. He canned 10-of-14 field goals, including an impressive 7-of-9 performance from 3-point range.

When the Bobcats closed to within five late it was Leech who buried a pair of treys to help the Pioneers push the margin back to nine with 3:11 to play. After that, the Bobcats were never able to get any closer.

“Going into halftime with a 19-point lead I think we got too comfortable,” said Leech. “We came out in the second half a little lazy and they came out hard and cut it back to five. The good thing, though, is we kept our poise, withstood their run, extended the lead and got the win.

“When they got close we knew we had to knock down some shots and that’s what we did.”

GSC, which improved to 1-0, also got 14 points and eight rebounds from Rodney Lee, 13 points from Chase Groves and 10 points and seven boards from Jamal Holden.

Wesleyan, which slipped to 0-1, was led by Jerel Thomas’ 16 points and game-high nine rebounds. The Bobcats also got 15 points, including 10 in the second half, from E.J. Lucas.

Glenville will battle Ohio State-Newark today at 2 p.m. in the classic, while Wesleyan tangles with Fairmont State today at 4 p.m. The Falcons defeated the Titans in the nightcap Saturday, 102-64.

        

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