Pirates Plundered
February 04, 2004 10:28 PM | General
February 4, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia’s Kevin Pittsnogle found his shooting stroke tonight. The sophomore forward scored a game-high 24 points to lead the Mountaineers to a 69-64 victory over Seton Hall Wednesday night at the WVU Coliseum.
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| West Virginia's D'or Fischer alters a shot taken by Seton Hall's Andre Sweet during Wednesday's game at the WVU Coliseum. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Pittsnogle made 6 of 9 field goal attempts, 3 of 5 from three-point range, and 9 of 10 from the foul line for his season-high total.
“I love playing with Kevin,” said center D’or Fischer. “He can shoot, he gave me that great pass for the dunk and he really stepped up big tonight. Look forward to more of it because this is not the last time for Kevin.”
WVU was in dire need of Pittsnogle’s performance Wednesday night after coming off a 73-58 loss at Villanova last Saturday.
The Martinsburg native had been mired in a shooting slump in which he made just 8 of his last 39 field goal attempts in games against Marshall, Boston College, St. John’s and Villanova.
“I don’t think he was playing that poorly and because he had such an unbelievable freshman year he shouldn't be judged on a great freshman year that was really unique,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “He’s a sophomore right now and he’s playing 20 minutes a game and he’s averaging about 9 points per game in the Big East. That’s pretty good for a sophomore.”
Pittsnogle got off to a great start by hitting a pair of threes, even though he couldn’t find his shot in warm-ups.
“If I’m not shooting well in warm-ups I’m pretty sure I’m going to have a decent night shooting,” he said. “I don’t know why, but I couldn’t make anything in warm-ups tonight.”
After Seton Hall took its first lead 11-9, West Virginia went on a 14-6 run to open up a 23-15 advantage after a three by Tyler Relph.
Seton Hall was able to cut its deficit to 25-23 on a three by Andre Barrett and a layup by Kelly Whitney.
West Virginia led 30-25 on a three by Patrick Beilein before Barrett answered with a jumper with 12 seconds left to cut WVU’s advantage to two at the break.
The Pirates tied the game at 33 on a layup by Whitney before West Virginia went on a 10-0 run to take a 43-33 lead with 14:24 remaining.
Pittsnogle began the run with a jumper and also tipped in a miss to put WVU up 40-33.
The Mountaineers were able to build its biggest lead of the game at 53-40 a free throw by Fischer at 7:28.
But the Pirates responded with 10 straight points to reduce West Virginia's lead to three, 53-50. The Pirates trailed by three at 54-51 and 56-53 before WVU was able to cash in at the free throw line. Five free throws by Pittsnogle got West Virginia’s lead back to eight, and a pair of foul shots by Fischer pushed the margin to 10, 63-53 with 53 seconds remaining.
In addition to Pittsnogle’s 24, Fischer contributed 16 points, 8 rebounds and 2 blocks.
“He’s a presence and he makes a difference,” said Seton Hall coach Louis Orr of Fischer’s play. “He bothers people, but we got inside to Whitney when we wanted.”
Joe Herber added 10 points, 6 rebounds and 3 assists.
J.R. Morris came off the bench to lead the Pirates with 16 points and 8 rebounds. Barrett scored 15 and Whitney contributed 11 points and 8 rebounds.
West Virginia was cold throughout the game, making just 35.7 percent of its field goal attempts. The Mountaineers made up the difference at the free throw line where they were 23 of 29 for 79.3 percent. Seton Hall, on the other hand, was just 10 of 19 from the foul line for 52.6 percent.
“We lay our hat on our defense,” said Orr. “If you look at the stats, West Virginia shot only 35 percent. We allowed Pittsnogle too many open looks early and he hit a few threes on us. We were not as alert as we should have been.”
The Mountaineers had to play the remaining 7:59 with freshman Tyler Relph at point guard because J.D. Collins fouled out. Relph finished the game with 7 points and 3 assists coming off the bench.
“Tyler is back there and he’s getting a crash course in what he had to do and he really had a great game,” said Beilein. “I thought he was very solid all night long.”
West Virginia’s win puts it back into the middle of the pack in the Big East standings. The Mountaineers are now 4-4 in conference play and 12-7 overall.
Seton Hall, after an impressive win against Providence, drops to 14-5, 4-3.
“That was a big win,” said Fischer. “They beat Syracuse, they beat Providence and they played Louisville down to the stretch. That was a good team and we just came out and we all played focused and together and we got a win that we needed.”
The timing may have been right coming off a big win against Providence, but Fischer doesn’t believe Providence came into tonight’s game taking the Mountaineers lightly.
“I don’t think they came out thinking they could just easily win tonight,” he said. “They played us hard and we had fewer mistakes than them and were able to win.”
West Virginia is back in action this Saturday at Connecticut in a game that is scheduled to start at 2 pm.
