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WHEELING -- Seventh seed West Virginia Wesleyan's season came to a conclusion in a 71-59 setback to No. 2 Charleston during Mountain East Conference Tournament quarterfinal action Friday at WesBanco Arena.
The Bobcats (12-17) hung around for almost the entirety of the matchup, but the Golden Eagles (24-5) limited their counterparts to 42% shooting -- just 20% from 3-point range -- and won the rebounding battle by a 44-32 margin.
"At this time of the year, you just want to survive and advance in March," said UC coach Dwaine Osborne, who prior to the game was presented his conference coach of the year plaque. "I tip my hat to (Coach) Nick (Patella) and the Bobcats, who I thought played really hard and were competitive."
With Wesleyan ahead 20-18, Charleston proceeded to drill its next five shots as part of a 14-2 run. When Luka Petrovic hit a late 3-pointer, the Golden Eagles, who entered third in last week's Atlantic Region rankings, settled on a 32-25 halftime advantage.
"We battled. There's no doubt about it," Patella said. "But they're a good team and they've got eight, 10 guys that come in.
"They’ve got all the pieces that they need and they're relentless in their approach."
A 13-6 run, culminating in a 3-pointer from Seth O’Neal (15 points, seven assists and five rebounds) early in the second half, allowed Charleston to go in front, 54-41, as the Bobcats went 3:31 without a field goal.
"They're a bunch of really good athletes that cover a lot of ground, quickly," Patella said of UC. "They're in good position.
"They're in good position off the ball and they bump you off your cuts."
Wesleyan had one more run it, as a 3 from Jaylin Reed and a two from Petrovic sandwiched around a pair of Devon Robinson free throws for UC, trimmed the deficit to six at 60-54 with inside of four minutes remaining.
UC, however, ended the game on an 11-5 run.
The Golden Eagles' Robinson led all players with 24 points and 12 rebounds. He was joined in double figures by O'Neal and Lamont McManus, who tallied 12 each.
Petrovic and Daylin Lee paced Wesleyan with 18 points each, while Reed netted 10. Dusan Petrovic had seven points and a team-high 11 rebounds.
Charleston advances to face third-seed Fairmont State at 8:15 p.m. today in one semifinal.
The Falcons defeated third-seed Glenville State, 77-70, on Friday to advance.
Top-seed West Liberty, which ran past eighth-seed Concord, 100-85, will face the winner of Friday night's late game between fourth-seed West Virginia State and fifth-seed Wheeling in the other semifinal at 6 p.m.
The title game is set for 5 p.m. on Sunday.
Today's women's semifinals include No. 1 Glenville State vs. No. 4 Concord at noon and No. 2 Notre Dame vs. No. 3 Charleston at 2:15 p.m.
The women's title game will be at 2 p.m. Sunday.