Wesleyan returns favor to Fairmont: ; Fifth-seeded Bobcats erupt for 53 points in second half on way to 91- 77 win over Falcons

Fairmont State spoiled West Virginia Wesleyan's Senior Night lastSaturday with a 91-77 win.

On Thursday evening, Wesleyan returned the favor with a dominantperformance in a 93-76 win in the quarterfinal round of the WestVirginia Conference men's basketball tournament at the CharlestonCivic Center.

The fifth-seeded Bobcats (19-9), who never trailed, advance tothe semifinal round where they'll face top-seeded and No. 1 rankedWest Liberty (27-0) tonight at 8:30.

Fourth-seeded Fairmont's season ended at 17-10.

"I was really proud of our team's record," said first-yearWesleyan Coach Jeff Price. "I thought we took command early and justdid a really nice job of controlling the game throughout."

Wesleyan led by just seven points at the half before erupting for53 second half points on 19-of-32 (59.4 percent) from the floor inthe half, including 6-of-8 (75.0) from 3-point range.

Senior guard Marquis Weddle led Wesleyan with 23 points, whileNeven Zeravica finished with 21, and Colby Wohlleb 14.

Fairmont was led by Steve Custis with a game-high 26 points,followed by Terrence Green with 16 points and Isaac Thornton with12.

But the most pleasing statistic of the evening for Price was histeam's 52-32 rebounding edge, including 24 offensive boards.

"I thought our size was huge factor," Price said. "We were greaton the glass. We finished with 24 offensive rebounds and it's toughto beat us when we have that many boards.

"I just thought we were dominant."

Senior BeJay Corley grabbed a game-high 17 rebounds for Wesleyan.

Fairmont Coach Tim Murphy also credited the lopsided outcome tothe Bobcats' rebounding performance.

"We just got outplayed tonight," Murphy said. "They were better.They were just better and we could not get it going tonight.

"They just absolutely smashed us on the glass. We just beat thisteam last Saturday, and I don't know for whatever reason, we justdidn't play well all the way around tonight."

Wesleyan dropped a pair of regular-season decisions to WestLiberty - by 130-103 and 122-86 - but that hasn't dampened theBobcats' confidence headed into tonight's matchup.

"I just think we need to stick to our regular game plan and playdefense like we did tonight," said Weddle. "I think if we playdefense, and focus and lock down like we did tonight, I think wehave a better chance of slowing them down.

"We don't want to give up too many threes, and slow theirtransition down. We want to make them take tough shots and take ourchance then."

Contact Michael Dailey at mike.dailey@dailymail.com.