West Virginia wins opener over Mount St. Mary's 70-54
West Virginia beat Mount St. Mary’s 70-54 inside the Hope Coliseum Tuesday night to start the season off in the win column.
The Mountaineers were led in scoring by point guard Jasper Floyd with 25 points, 15 of which came in the first half, to go along with 5 steals while guard Honor Huff had 16 points and forward Brenen Lorient scored 11 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for a double-double.
The Mountaineers forced a total of 20 turnovers with 13 of those being steals.
Floyd started the scoring with a runner on the opening possession for the Mountaineers to kick off the Ross Hodge era in Morgantown and would then hit a three to push the edge out to 5-2. The lead would sit at 9-6 at the first media timeout as Floyd would score seven of those points.
Mount St. Mary’s would seize the lead at 11-10 after a stretch of sloppy play by the Mountaineers. At the 10:23 mark of the first half Lorient would record a steal and slam to put West Virginia back ahead 14-13.
The two teams would then volleyball the edge back and forth over the next few possessions with the Mountaineers holding an 18-17 edge at the 8:00 mark of the first half. The two teams continued to play it close with the score at 22-all with just over six minutes left in the first half.
After a three-point play by the visitors, West Virginia fell behind 25-22 before a Huff three ball again tied things up between the two. The Mountaineers would then push the edge out to 29-25 with 2:17 remaining in the half after a pair of Floyd free throws.
West Virginia would take a 35-29 edge into the half with Floyd leading the way with 15 points. The Mountaineers forced 13 turnovers in the first half and turned that into 16 points.
Floyd would start the scoring in the second half as well and the lead would sit at 38-31 with 18:23 remaining in the game. The lead would swell to 47-35 with just over 13-minutes remaining after back-to-back three balls by Morris Ugusuk and Huff to give the Mountaineers some momentum.
West Virginia held a 49-39 lead with around eight and a half minutes remaining in the game but a Huff three off a turnover would push the edge to 12. However, Mount St. Mary’s would respond with a banked three to keep the edge at 10 points with 7:41 left to play.
The visitors would then cut the deficit to just 52-46 with 6:20 remaining before the Mountaineers would reel off six straight to push the edge back out to 58-46 with 4:10 left in the game.
After another Floyd basket, the Mountaineers would lead 62-49 with 2:20 remaining in the game and from there West Virginia would be able to close the game out.
The Mountaineers will next take on Campbell at 7 p.m. Thursday inside the Hope Coliseum.
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