Mountaineers Cruise
December 04, 2004 09:39 PM | General
December 4, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Mike Gansey scored 15 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead West Virginia to a 78-44 victory over Radford Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum.
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| West Virginia forward Mike Gansey drives for two of his team-high 15 points Saturday night.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Gansey was one of five double-digit scorers for the Mountaineers, now 4-0 for the season. Tyrone Sally contributed 13 points, Kevin Pittsnogle added 12 and Patrick Beilein and Darris Nichols scored 10 points each for West Virginia.
West Virginia made 30 of 63 field goal attempts for 48.4 percent. WVU tired 29 three-point field goal attempts, making 10 for 34.5 percent.
Radford jumped out to an early 8-0 lead on a basket by Chris Oliver, a three by Brandon Jeffers and another three by Whit Holcomb-Faye. A dunk by D’or Fischer got the Mountaineers on the board at 17:34, and five straight points by Gansey cut Radford’s lead to 8-7.
An Oliver dunk at 11:49 put the Highlanders up by seven, 22-15.
“I was so afraid of their start,” said Beilein. “They came in here shooting the ball well from behind the arc but we stuck with our game plan and the kids just did a great job.”
Back to back baskets by Nichols and Gansey cut Radford’s lead to three and a Beilein layup cut WVU’s deficit to one, 22-21.
West Virginia eventually took its first lead of the half at 23-22 on a pair of free throws by Nichols. A three-point play by Sally gave the Mountaineers a four-point advantage at 28-22.
WVU used a 15-3 run over the remaining 6:24 to build its lead to 16 at halftime.
Radford (4-2) was able to close West Virginia’s lead to 13, 43-30, at 18:03 on a dunk by Oliver. West Virginia responded a 23-7 run over the next nine minutes to turn the game into a blowout.
Radford had a tough time with West Virginia’s half-court defense, making just 16 of 53 field goal tries for 30.2 percent. The Highlanders were just four of 17 from three-point range (23.5 percent). Radford’s poor shooting and West Virginia’s solid rebounding led to many easy transition baskets.
“We really were able to live off our defense when we need to get some big points,” Beilein said. “If we’re going to score in the 70s you have to get some three-on-two, two-on-one opportunities and we’re a work in progress when all that comes.”
Whit Holcomb-Faye led Radford with 16 points. Leading scorer Chris Oliver, who came into the game with a 20.2 points-per-game average, managed 14.
West Virginia returns to the court on Tuesday night at Charleston, W.Va., to face St. Bonaventure at the Charleston Civic Center for a 7 pm non-conference game.
Fans interested in purchasing tickets for that contest can do so by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free 1-800-WVU GAME on Monday or by calling the Civic Center box office at (304) 342-5757.
“I hope those people from Charleston are going to come out and they always have … we don’t have any other reason to believe they won’t,” Beilein said. “We do like bringing that game down there and show us you want us down there and we’ll keep coming back.”
Briefly:
“He came in and gave J.D. a great rest and did a wonderful job,” said Beilein of Nichols’ performance in relief of starting point guard J.D. Collins.
“It’s a role where he knows he can come in and let it fly and he’s rebounding the ball batter,” Beilein said of Pittsnogle’s play off the bench this year. “It sort of like when Patrick (Beilein) comes in there. They know what their job and what their role is on the team.”
