Talk about a birthday present.

West Virginia University Tech’s Darryl Slack scored 31 points, hit 17-of-18 free throws and nailed big shot after big shot as the Golden Bears stunned NAIA No. 1 Mountain State University 96-91 Saturday at the Beckley-Raleigh County Convention Center.

It was Slack’s 23rd birthday and he celebrated it in style.

The senior two guard gunned down MSU with a pair of big threes and then nailed six straight free throws in the closing two minutes as the Golden Bears pulled off the stunner.

The win was the first for coach Bob Williams over MSU and was 12 years in the making.

“This will be a shocker,” Williams said after the win. “I’ve developed a great friendship with (MSU coach) Bob Bolen through basketball and I think he respects us because we are one of the few schools in West Virginia who will play him. We started playing one another when I was at Glenville 12 years ago. I told the team the other day that we were looking for a defining win. Well, this was a defining win.”

It was the Cougars’ first loss in Beckley since falling to Lee University one year ago.

MSU is now 14-2. Tech is 14-4.

Slack certainly didn’t cut MSU any slack.

In a game that saw 15 lead changes and nine ties (14 and seven in the first half), Slack hit a big three-pointer with 3:26 left to give the Golden Bears the lead, 85-83. Andrew Lee’s stickback slam dunk tied the score at 2:57, but Slack again was good from beyond the arc to put Tech ahead for good with 2:33 remaining.

Lee hit a little running jumper to make it a one-point Tech advantage, 88-87, but Slack, who scored 12 of Tech’s final 14 points, made a pair of free throws to make it 90-87.

MSU’s Nick Aldridge had a chance to tie the score, after he took the ball from a Tech player, laid it in and drew the foul. But in what had been a recurring theme for MSU on the evening, he missed the free throw. Mountain State was 21-of-36 while Tech was 30-of-34 from the line.

Slack converted a pair of free throws with 54.2 seconds remaining. Aldridge had a deuce, but again Slack stepped to the line and made a pair with 18.1 remaining to push the lead back to three, 94-91. MSU had one look at a three-pointer but couldn’t get it to fall. Zack Thomsen made two free throws with 0.3 left to seal the win.

“Coach (Williams) told us to get good shots and have some continuity in the offense,” Slack said. “We aren’t a really good free throw shooting team. I’m not normally a good free throw shooter. But we trusted each other tonight and it showed. We had faith that we were going to make them. This is a big, big win for us.”

It was also a big, big loss for MSU, which will drop from No. 1 when the new NAIA Division I poll comes out Monday.

“Give Tech credit,” Bolen said. “They did what they had to do to win the game. They played well. And this should be a lesson for our players. When you come into a game thinking you are something special because you are No. 1 in the country, this is what’s going to happen.”

Bolen also credited Slack.

“He played well,” Bolen said. “We had a hard time guarding him. When your point guard and your two guard shoot 26 free throws ... I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that. We had our big men at the line and they hard their point guard and two guard at the line. Obviously, we couldn’t defend either one of them.”

The first half featured 14 lead changes and seven ties and, fittingly, ended with the two teams tied at 49.

MSU ran out to as much as a seven-point lead before Tech battled back behind — who else — Slack.

He hit a three and a free throw — the other was his only miss at the line — to cut the lead to three. After Lee pushed the lead back to five, A.J. Pigram was whistled for a foul, and when he was walking off the court, he made a comment and was hit with a technical and his fifth foul.

Thomsen made two free throws, and on MSU’s next possession, Williams was hit with a technical for asking the officials about a traveling call. Bolen had been hit with a technical in the first half.

Tech stayed with MSU point-for-point before Slack’s three finally put the Golden Bears ahead.

A total of 70 free throws were attempted in the game.

“We played Cumberlands here and it was 11 and nine (free throws attempted by the two teams),” Bolen said. “Tonight, it’s 34 and 36. It was called like a high school game. We need to figure out how we are going to be allowed to play. But it’s our fault. We didn’t adjust.”

Lee had 19 points and 14 rebounds for MSU. Marcus Hunter had 16, Aldridge 15 and Bo Harris 13.

Ricky Young and Thomsen had 14 each for Tech and Vince Coleman 13.

Leading scorer Sam Robertson had just four points and played just 16 minutes because of foul trouble.

Tech now faces, in succession, No. 6 Cumberlands, No. 3 Georgetown and No. 18 Lindsey Wilson.

“It doesn’t get any bigger than this,” Williams said. “This was big for our young team. We played a soft schedule up to this point, but you know what that did for us? It gave us confidence.”

Mountain State will try to rebound against Voorhees at 7 p.m. Monday at the BRCCC.

— E-mail: demorrison@

register-herald.com



WVU TECH 96, No. 1 MSU 91

WVU TECH (14-4)

Darryl Slack 5-13 17-18 31, Zack Thomsen 3-9 7-8 14, Same Robertson 2-7 0-0 4, Robby Marshall 2-6 5-6 9, Victor McGee 2-3 1-1 5, Vincent Coleman 6-8 0-0 13, Ben Shannon 1-5 0-0 3, Ricky Young 7-8 0-0 15, Princeton Joshway 1-3 0-1 3. Totals 29-62 30-34 96.

MOUNTAIN STATE (14-2)

Anthony Pigram 2-8 2-2 8, Tony Brown 3-8 0-0 8, Andrew Lee 8-14 3-9 19, Bo Harris 5-15 3-6 13, Ermin Tarcin 1-4 7-8 9, Rashad Nesbitt 0-0 0-0 0, Marcus Hunter 7-13 1-2 16, Nick Aldridge 5-9 5-9 15, Vedrin Zivic 0-0 0-0 0, Greg Grimes 1-3 0-0 3. Totals 32-74 21-36 91.

Halftime—Tied 49-49. 3-Point Goals—WVU Tech 8-29 (LSlack 4-9, Thomsen 1-6, Robertson 0-2, Coleman 1-3, Shannon 1-5, Young 0-1, Joshway 1-3), MSU 6-22 (Pigram 2-6, Brown 2-5, Harris 0-3, Tarcin 0-1, Hunter 1-5, Aldridge 0-1, Grimes 1-1). Fouled Out—McGee, Young, Pigram. Rebounds—WVU Tech 43 (Young 9), MSU 43 (Lee 14). Assists—WVU Tech 18 (Thomsen 6), MSU 17 (Brown 6). Total Fouls—WVU Tech 24, MSU 20. A—1,195.