Mountaineers Prevail
November 10, 2006 09:38 PM | General
November 10, 2006
BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Darris Nichols scored 14 points and freshman forward Da’Sean Butler added 11 off the bench to lead West Virginia to a 50-42 season-opening victory over Mount St. Mary’s Friday night at the WVU Coliseum.
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| Junior guard Darris Nichols led West Virignia with 14 points Friday night in a 50-42 victory over Mount St. Mary's at the WVU Coliseum.
All-Pro Photography/Allison Toffle |
The new-look Mountaineers (1-0), without four of its starters from last year’s NCAA tournament “Sweet 16” team, are a work in progress. Tonight, West Virginia shot 29.8 percent from the field and was 8 of 15 from the free throw line for 53.3 percent.
“We simply found a way to win the game,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “Our goal was to win this game and get better tomorrow.”
West Virginia tried 33 3-point shots, making 8 for 24.2 percent. The Mountaineers were only able to connect on 2 of 13 from 3-point land in the second half after trying 20 first-half 3s.
Nichols and Butler were the only two West Virginia players to shoot better than 50 percent for the game, Nichols hitting on 5 of 9 while Butler making 4 of 8. WVU was 6 of 23 shooting in the second half for 26.1 percent.
Senior Frank Young missed all eight of his field-goal tries while sophomore forward Joe Alexander was 2 of 8 from the floor and also had four fouls.
“Frank Young had his best preseason shooting in his four years,” said Beilein. “I was surprised to see him not score.”
Young did grab a game-high 9 rebounds to help West Virginia to a 40-36 edge on the boards.
Freshman Joe Mazzulla came off the bench to contribute 5 points while Devan Bawinkel made one 3. Forward Wellington Smith was the other West Virginia freshman to see action Friday night.
“I’m wide open for suggestions for starters,” Beilein said. “I was careful not to have both freshmen guards on the court at the same time.”
As difficult as it was for West Virginia to score, the Mountaineers were able to clamp down on Mount St. Mary’s by forcing 18 turnovers and holding The Mount to 35.4 percent shooting.
Markus Mitchell led Mount St. Mary’s (0-1) with 9 points.
WVU’s biggest lead of the game was 13, 44-31, following a Nichols lay up. Mount St. Mary’s closed to six, 46-40, on a Mitchell basket with 2:25 remaining.
Four straight free throws by Butler and Nichols iced the game for West Virginia.
“This game reminded me of my very first game here against Delaware State,” Beilein said. “This was important to get the jitters out.”
The last time West Virginia shot that poorly and won was Jan. 29, 1957, when the Mountaineers hit just 28.1 percent of their field-goal attempts in a 59-54 win over Virginia Tech.
An outstanding crowd of 9,744 witnessed the game. It is the third-largest season-opening crowd in WVU Coliseum history and the most since 11,045 showed up to watch West Virginia take on Maryland on Dec. 5, 1987.
Before the game, members of last year’s NCAA tournament team were on hand to witness the unveiling of the new banner.
West Virginia has won all three meetings against Mount St. Mary’s in basketball.
“It was tough, but I think the thing that helped us was Beilein has been running this system for a long time so we prepared for the system,” said Mount St. Mary’s coach Milan Brown. "We prepared more for the offense than for the personnel.”
West Virginia gets three days to digest this one before returning to the court on Tuesday, Nov. 14, to take on Slippery Rock at the WVU Coliseum. Tip off is scheduled for 7 pm.
