WVU Downs IPFW
December 28, 2003 04:37 PM | General
December 28, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Drew Schifino scored 21 points and grabbed 8 rebounds to lead West Virginia to a 76-63 victory over IPFW Sunday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.
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| Drew Schifino scored a game-high 21 points for West Virginia Sunday against IPFW. (All-Pro Photography/Pete Broyles) |
West Virginia (6-3) never trailed in the game and led by as many as 21 points in the second half.
“I worry about so many of these games,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “I’ve never been in a situation where you have guarantee games and now we have them. You don’t like to give that check out and give a win to them as well.
“They’ve played very well on the road and they have a very adverse situation missing one player today,” Beilein added. “I don’t think we played well and maybe that is to their credit.”
Schifino made 7 of 13 field goal attempts and was 6 of 8 from the free throw line for his game-high scoring total.
Joe Herber matched his season high with 15 points for the Mountaineers.
David Simon paced IPFW with 19 points; Keion Henderson contributed 11 and Jim Kessenich contributed 10 for the Mastodons, now 2-9.
WVU shot 46.2 percent from the floor and was 10 of 20 from three-point distance. IPFW was just 3 of 13 from behind the three-point arc.
“We go 10 for 20 from three; we have a lot of shooters who work very hard and we’ve just got to keep it up and keep going,” said Beilein.
West Virginia began the game with a three-point basket by Kevin Pittsnogle and led by eight on two occasions at 11-3 and 13-5 before IPFW cut the Mountaineers’ lead to two, 14-12 after a three-point play by center David Simon.
The Mastodons were able to keep it to within four at 24-20 before the Mountaineers went on 12-3 run to finish the half with a 13-point halftime lead.
“We missed a lot of easy shots in the first half but we hung around and we played better defense than we have … we got a lot of steals and were pretty active,” said Beilein.
A pair of baskets by D’or Fischer began the WVU run. Six straight points from Drew Schifino pushed West Virginia’s lead to double figures and Joe Herber finished the half with two free throws.
WVU began the second half on a 12-7 run to turn a 13-point lead into an 18-point blowout.
Beilein changed his lineup for the first time this year starting freshman Tyler Relph at point guard instead of sophomore J.D. Collins.
“It was very odd for me last year not to change the whole year,” said Beilein. “We had a rotation going and I thought we were staying in games and the young kids were responding. First of all, Tyler Relph has been playing very well and J.D. Collins responds to anything. We make other changes. It’s not about who runs out on that carpet; it’s about who can help us win games and how you can do that with the team.”
West Virginia has just one day to get ready for a game against Howard at the WVU Coliseum on Tuesday, Dec. 30. Howard is 2-6 so far this year after losing 89-58 at Georgetown on Dec. 20. Howard’s two wins this year have come against Florida International and St. Francis, Pa.
The men’s game will get underway following the West Virginia women’s game against Missouri-Kansas City.
Notes: For the first time this year West Virginia wasn’t out-rebounded in a game, snapping a streak of 14 straight games spanning back to last year’s game at Rutgers; WVU tied IPFW 34-34 in the rebounding column … Drew Schifino moved past Lee Patrone into 35th place on the WVU career scoring chart with 1,029 points … Schifino is tied with Seldon Jefferson, Maurice Robinson and Fred Schaus for 16th place on the school list with his 19th career 20-point game … Schifino also extended the nation’s longest double-figure scoring streak to 47 games; Seton Hall’s Andre Barrett had has streak of double-figure games stopped at 46 against Davidson … West Virginia shot at least 50 percent from three-point distance (10 of 20) for the third time this season … Joe Herber’s mother Christiane Herber came from Germany to see her son play games this week against IPFW and Howard, “Last year she came and we had about two-feet of snow,” said Beilein.
