From Staff, Wire Reports

CHARLESTON -- Everything was going as planned in the West Virginia Conference men's basketball tournament until Alderson-Broaddus' Glenn Phillips had his say.

Phillips scored 26 points and grabbed 16 rebounds to lead No. 6 seed Alderson-Broaddus to a 62-48 victory over No. 5 seed WVU-Tech in second round action at the Charleston Civic Center on Thursday.

A-B (20-8) was the first higher seed to advance and faces the University of Charleston at 6:30 tonight. Top-seeded UC knocked off West Liberty, 95-66, Thursday.

Phillips "really played well," A-B coach Brett Vincent said. "He didn't do that at their place, obviously. He was probably the difference in the game."

The first time the teams met Tech (16-12) claimed a 95-59 victory in Montgomery on Feb. 12.

"They had an extremely good night, and we had a poor night," Vincent said. Thursday, "we played well, and they didn't."

With Tech having an off-game shooting, the Battlers took advantage and jumped to an 18-5 lead behind Phillips' 11 points.

Tech finished the first half shooting only 19 percent and finished the game 28 percent.

"Our shots didn't fall, and our guys got a little complacent," WVU-Tech coach Jeff Kepreos said. "In a high intensity setting, we lost a little emotion and confidence when our shots weren't falling."

After its hot start, A-B's lead never fell to less than nine points the rest of the game. Kevyn McBride followed Phillips with 14 points and six rebounds, while point guard Allen Jenkins had 13 points and six assists.

Josh Funk led Tech with 10 points, while conference freshman of the year Delonta Jones finished with nine points, five below his season average, on three-of-16 shooting.

n FAIRMONT STATE 77, West Virginia State 64: Fairmont State used a 17-1 run midway through the first half to advance to the semifinals against Salem-Teikyo.

After State (17-11) took its biggest lead, 16-10, Fairmont went on its decisive run as Marcel O'Neal scored nine points during the spurt.

Thanks to the run, Fairmont (25-2) held a 36-27 halftime advantage.

In the second half, State closed within five with 3:28 remaining, but couldn't draw closer.

O'Neal led Fairmont with 16 points, followed by Tim Tatum (14), Eric Wilson (13) and Andre Hairston (12).

Mark Peterson led State with 16 points.

n Charleston 95, West Liberty 66: Chad Lee scored 19 points to lead five players in double figures as top-seeded Charleston breezed past West Liberty.

Charleston (28-2), which never trailed in winning its 19th straight game, will face No. 5 Alderson-Broaddus (20-8) in Friday's semifinals at the Charleston Civic Center.

The attention during Charleston's stellar season has focused on Ajamu Gaines, the conference's leading scorer, and No. 4 scorer Kalan Smith.

When Charleston and West Liberty met on Jan. 15, Gaines scored 47 and Smith had 39 in a 110-108 double-overtime victory.

They weren't needed Thursday.

Lee hit three 3-pointers in the first four minutes of the game as Charleston raced to a 17-4 lead. And he began the second half with a 3-pointer to start a 10-0 run for a 53-30 advantage.

Charleston's lead would not fall below 20 after Derek Jones' 3-pointer with 10:58 left made it 69-48.

Eleven players scored for Charleston. Gaines fouled out with five minutes left and finished with 10 points, 18 below his average. Shawn Thigpen had 13 and Smith and Tommy Orcutt 12 apiece.

Clint See scored 20 for No. 8 seed West Liberty (13-15).