Men's Basketball almost pulls off upset against (RV) WVU Tech on the road

BECKLEY, W. Va. --- Carlow University men's basketball narrowly pulled off an upset over WVU Tech on the road Thursday.

BECKLEY, W. Va. --- Carlow University men's basketball narrowly pulled off an upset over WVU Tech on the road Thursday.

The Golden Bears – who are "receiving votes" in the latest NAIA Top-25 Coaches' Poll – defeated the Celtics, 79-71.

Riley Comforti led the Celtics (1-6, 0-1 RSC) with a career- and season-high 26 points, five steals and four assists on the night.

Nehemiah Brazil added 10 points, three assists and two steals, while AJ Sharp dished out five assists in the effort.

Both teams tied the game up four separate times in the first half alone.

The Celtics went on an 11-0 run toward the end of the first half to regain the lead, but WVU Tech (3-2, 1-0 RSC) stayed ahead, 39-34, at halftime.

Carlow traded leads with the Golden Bears to start the second half before maintaining the advantage for five minutes midway through the half.

WVU Tech went on a 15-2 run to put them ahead nine points with under five minutes remaining in regulation.

The Celtics cut WVU Tech's lead to two, but Carlow could not regain the advantage before time dwindled off the clock. Carlow missed a handful of easy buckets toward the end of the game that could have made the difference.

The Celtics out-rebounded WVU Tech, 47-46, and scored 25 points off 18 Golden Bears turnovers.

Both teams shot 60 percent from the foul line, but the Golden Bears held a small advantage in field goal percentage on the night.

Will Hill led all scorers with 28 points, teammate Ashton Parker had a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds and Brant Smithers scored 17 points off the bench to lead the Golden Bears.

Carlow concludes its RSC road trip with a 3 p.m. game at Alice Lloyd (Ky.) College Nov. 19.