Mistake filled first half cost Frostburg in 106-90 loss to West Liberty

Feb. 15—FROSTBURG — It was a mistake filled first half for Frostburg State, and despite a second half comeback, it wasn't enough in a 106-90 loss to No. 11 West Liberty on Wednesday night at Bobcat Arena.

"We ran out of steam, we had to burn a lot of our time outs early to stop the bleeding," Frostburg State head coach Sean Brown Sr. said. "It came back to bite us. Our guys played well, we were a little bit thin and a couple guys not being in the lineup started catching up to us."

The Hilltoppers (22-3, 17-2 Mountain East Conference) dominated the first half and pulled away in the second to prevent a double-digit comeback. The Bobcats (8-17, 4-15 MEC) cut a 20-point deficit to six in the second half.

Leading 5-4 early, West Liberty went on a 10-2 run to push its lead to 15-6. The Hilltoppers continued to build on their lead with a 15-8 run to make it 30-14 with 9:14 left in the half.

"We were looking for the refs to bail us out," Brown said. "They called a good game, they let us play both ways. You can't ask for more consistency than that. The officials weren't gonna decide the game, they let us decide it on the floor."

Frostburg found some late offense and scored 14 points in the final five minutes. The Bobcats were led by Jason Murphy's 14 points and 10 rebounds in the first half.

"Guys were looking for him," Brown said. "He's the best center in our league. If he can get time and space and we can get him the ball, we can do damage."

Frostburg struggled with turnovers, especially in the first half. The Bobcats committed 15 in the first half and 26 overall. West Liberty took advantage, scoring 24 points off of them in the first half.

"We were a little bit jiggy coming out," Brown said. "We've played this team seven times, every time they're real physical. We were supposed to match their physicality and we didn't."

The Hilltoppers led 56-39 at halftime and 60-49 with 15:14 left. Frostburg began to rally and outscored West Liberty 27-22 to cut its deficit to 82-76 with 7:45 left. Juston Bailey made back-to-back layups to make it a six-point game.

Bailey had a huge second half for the Bobcats. After not scoring in the first half, he scored 25 in the second. Bailey made all six of his 3-point attempts and shot 9 for 12 from the field.

"I can't say enough about him," Brown said. "He recognized what the game plan was and he knew what time it was. He's been out for quite some time, but he came back ready to rock. He's a gamer, he's been waiting for this situation for three years. He put a whole lot of work in this summer and it's coming together."

The Hilltoppers responded with four 3-pointers in the final eight minutes. West Liberty outscored Frostburg 24-14 to pull away for good.

Bryce Butler led the Hilltoppers with 22 points, three blocks and three steals. Steve Cannady and Finley Woodward each scored 14 points. Malik Mckinney added 13 points, four assists and two steals.

FSU's Bailey led all scorers and also had six rebounds. Murphy finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds.

"I think those guys are gamers," Brown said. "We gotta continue to keep having those kind of games out of those guys. We keep getting those kind of performances, you'll see us in the playoffs."

Jaylon Johnson scored 15 while Jamil Jones had 12. Agyei Edwards had a double-double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.

The Bobcats travel to face Wheeling, West Virginia, on Saturday at 4 p.m. Brown said the key will be stopping the Cardinals' John Korte. He averages 20 points a game and surpassed 1,000 career points on Wednesday.

"That's a humungous game for us," Brown said. "They got two big kids we gotta stop, especially Korte. If we stop Korte, we should win that game."

Jordan Kendall is a Sports Writer for the Cumberland Times-News. Follow him on Twitter @JKendallCTN.