Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Once again, West Virginia was the best Virginia. Senior guard Jevon Carter scored a game-high 23 points to lead the 18^th-ranked Mountaineers to a 68-61 victory over No. 15 Virginia before 12,816 tonight at the WVU Coliseum.
 
It was West Virginia's second straight victory over Virginia, the Mountaineers knocking off the sixth-ranked Cavaliers 66-57 in Charlottesville last year.
 
Tonight's game was the first time Virginia has played in Morgantown since the 1985 NIT, and it was the first regular season appearance at the Coliseum since coach Bob Huggins was a WVU player 41 years ago.
 
"That was two teams that guarded," Huggins said afterward. "They guard different than us but they do a great job and that's what makes this game such a great game."
 
Tonight, Carter out-dueled Virginia's Kyle Guy, a former Indiana Mr. Basketball who missed his first six shots of the game before heating up in the second half. Guy made three straight 3s during a minute-and-a-half stretch, the third coming in transition, to give Virginia a 41-39 lead with 12:49 remaining.
 
"We forgot that Guy could shoot there for a little while," Huggins said. "He lit us up."
 
Carter answered Guy's 3 with a 3 at the other end and then Daxter Miles Jr. made a pair of free throws to make it a three-point lead, 44-41.
 
Virginia (8-1) led 45-44 and tied the game at 51 and 56 with 4:51 remaining. Lamont West, who finished with 22, unknotted the score with a jumper. A Sagaba Konate block of Guy's layup try and a Carter rebound of Guy's 3-point miss gave the Mountaineers possession of the basketball with 3:11 remaining.
 
Huggins called timeout to draw up a play for West, who drilled his fourth 3 with 2:59 remaining to push West Virginia's lead to five, 61-56.
 
Ty Jerome hit a 3 at the other end to make it a two-point game with 2:34 to go.
 
Following another stoppage of play with 1:27 remaining, the Mountaineers got more points when Jerome fouled West. He made both free throws to make it a four-point advantage with 1:11 to go.
 
"We did what we were supposed to do (following the two timeouts)," Huggins said. "Obviously I can't make them for them but Lamont was back to being Lamont. He shot it very well."
 
At the other end, Daxter Miles Jr. made a terrific steal and got the ball to Carter, who was fouled by Guy with 44 seconds to go. Carter's two free throws made it a six-point lead. Hall's 3 to halve the Mountaineers' lead was unsuccessful, Carter grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Guy with 27 seconds left.
 
He hit one of two this time to make it a seven-point lead. Following a Hall jumper and two more Carter free throws, Miles iced it with another steal underneath the basket.
 
"Dax made two great steals at the end of the game," Huggins said. "I told Dax, 'Don't worry about helping and don't worry about anything else, just make sure you stay on (Guy).' He made a great play getting around the elevator screen and he made a big play at the end."
 
The game was played at Virginia's pace throughout, but especially in the first half when both teams struggled to make shots and WVU led 29-26 at intermission.
 
WVU's biggest lead was eight, 29-21, with 1:29 when Wesley Harris followed Konate's miss, but Virginia scored five straight, two of those coming with 0.7 seconds left at the free throw line when Konate fouled De'Andre Hunter as he was scrambling to retrieve a loose ball.
 
After going scoreless in the first half, Guy exceeded his season average of 16.6 points per game with 18; Hall scored a team-best 19 on seven-of-12 shooting.
 
Miles Jr. added 12 for West Virginia, which has won eight straight after dropping its season-opening game to Texas A&M 88-65 in Germany.
 
In addition to his game-high 23, Carter also pulled down a team-best 10 rebounds, handed out seven assists and made two steals in another terrific all-around performance.
 
There were eight lead changes tonight and the game was tied four times.
 
West Virginia forced 14 Cavalier turnovers and had a 32-27 advantage on the glass. The Mountaineers also hit 16 of 18 from the free throw line for 88.9 percent.
 
Both teams struggled to make shots - West Virginia finished 42 percent from the floor while Virginia made 41.3 percent of its field goal attempts.
 
"I thought our defense was pretty good," Huggins said. "(Virginia coach) Tony (Bennett) said afterward, 'Man you guys are really good defensively.' I'm like, 'Yeah, and you're not?'"

Bennett was asked afterward about the atmosphere at the WVU Coliseum. Tonight was his first trip to Morgantown.

"It's a great college basketball atmosphere," he said. "We've had a great series; (Huggins') teams are tough. They're well coached. He's one of the best. Then, you come into this arena - and I had heard a lot about it - and I wasn't quite ready for the gunshot. The (Mountaineer mascot) surprised me on that one. They said it was going to be after the starting lineups, and I was talking to the guys and 'boom' there it goes.

"It's loud. It reminds me of U-Hall. I never coached at U-Hall, but (it's) a bigger version of U-Hall or when I was in the Big 10 at Purdue - some of those settings. But these people know good basketball. They've been treated to a heck of a coach and a heck of a program," Bennett added.

Huggins used a much shorter bench tonight with Carter (40 minutes), Harris (34), Konate (34), Miles (32) and West (32) getting most of the playing time.
 
The Mountaineers will face another border rival on Saturday when they travel up Interstate 79 to Pittsburgh to face the Panthers at the Petersen Events Center. Pitt knocked off Mount St. Mary's 82-78 earlier this evening to improve to 5-4 on the season.
 
"We have not fared as well in the Pete as we need to and we need to go in there and play well," Huggins said. "I told our guys coming in, these two games against Virginia and Pitt are huge games for us."
 
It will be the first time these two long-time rivals have played each other since West Virginia's visit to Pittsburgh in 2012, a 66-48 Mountaineer victory.