West Virginia beats Campbell 73-65
West Virginia knocked off Campbell 73-65 Thursday night inside the Hope Coliseum to move to 2-0 on the season.
The Mountaineers got a battle out of the Camels as they shot just 40-percent from the floor with 11 turnovers and struggled to create distance deep in the second half.
Guard Honor Huff had 23 points, center Harlan Obioha had 12 points and 6 rebounds, guard Treysen Eaglestaff scored 12 points with 6 rebounds for the Mountaineers. Meanwhile forward Brenen Lorient finished with 12 points and 9 rebounds and forward DJ Thomas had 10 points.
Lorient got the scoring started with a block of the defensive end and then finishing on the offensive side. The Mountaineers would then score six straight to push the edge to 8-0 in the first two plus minutes of the game. The Camels would cut that deficit in half before a Thomas three ball ended the run.
Huff would convert on a four-point play to give the Mountaineers a 15-6 edge approaching the 12-minute Mark as both teams still worked to find an early rhythm. Eaglestaff would hit a three to keep the edge at 20-11 with 9:40 remaining in the first half of play.
The Camels would continue to keep things close cutting the deficit to 21-15 with 6:43 left. The Mountaineers lead would go to 25-17 after another Eaglestaff three but overall it was an inconsistent first half to that point with just over 4:30 remaining.
Obioha would catch a ball on the block and muscle up a basket with a foul to push the edge out to 27-19 as the first half clock ticked toward three minutes. After Campbell again cut the lead to just a half dozen a Huff three-ball would provide some breathing room making it 32-23.
The score would sit 33-25 at halftime with the Mountaineers shooting 38-percent from the floor with 7 turnovers, while Campbell was at just 29-percent with 7 turnovers of their own.
The visitors would open the second half on a 11-4 spurt to cut the Mountaineers lead to just 37-36 with 15 minutes left in the game. Obioha would snap that dry spell with a layup and a foul to give West Virginia a 40-36 edge and him 10 points in the game.
The Camels would continue to keep the game close with the Mountaineers leading just 46-42 with just over ten minutes to play and cut it back down to just a single possession with 8:12 remaining before another Thomas layup on an offensive rebound to put it at 50-46 at the under eight minute timeout.
The Mountaineers lead sat at 54-48 with 5:34 left in the game as the two teams continued to seesaw the differential but West Virginia kept the lead at two possessions.
A big sequence would be a Huff three off an offensive rebound to push the lead back out to eight but a foul on a three pointer would put the edge back to just 57-52 with 4:30 left.
The Mountaineers led 61-56 with 2:21 left before Huff would connect on another second chance three-pointer to provide some cushion down the stretch. But again Campbell would cut the lead in half forcing Ross Hodge to take a timeout leading just 64-60 with 1:24 left.
Lorient would dunk the ball to put the Mountaineers ahead 66-60 with just over a minute remaining and bringing the Coliseum crowd to life. From there, West Virginia would close the game out.
The Mountaineers will next take on Lehigh at 3 p.m. Sunday inside the Hope Coliseum.
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