WVU Downs Rutgers
January 31, 2007 10:24 PM | General
January 31, 2007
BOX SCORE
PISCATAWAY, N.J. – Da’Sean Butler returned home to score a career-high 17 points to lead West Virginia to an 89-83 victory over Rutgers Wednesday night at the RAC in Piscataway, N.J.
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| West Virginia's Darris Nichols (14) attempts to shoot over Rutgers' Anthony Farmer (2) during the first half of college basketball in Piscataway, N.J., Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2007.
AP photo/Tim Larsen |
Butler, a 6-7 freshman from nearby Newark, N.J., made 6 of his 9 field goal attempts including 2 of 3 from 3-point distance.
“I’ve got this theory about players,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “While it doesn’t determine what their future will be if they get off to a bad start in their freshman year -- but guys that come in and just make shots -- the guys that we just graduated when they were freshmen their moxie was not a freshmen moxie. Da’Sean is very much like that.”
The Mountaineers shot an incredible 70 percent from 3-point range in the first half (8 of 12) and finished the game 14 of 21 from behind the arc for 67 percent.
Overall, the Mountaineers were a sizzling 30 of 46 for 65.2 percent.
“We got off to a bad start and they got off to a great start. They bank one in from the corner and we had five turnovers at the first time out and had seven for the game,” said Beilein. “It just shows you what turnovers can do to your team."
Joe Alexander matched Butler’s 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting; Darris Nichols scored 16, Frank Young had 11 and Jamie Smalligan came off the bench to contribute 10 for the Mountaineers.
It was West Virginia’s first Big East road victory of the season.
“Very few win (on the road) in the Big East and it builds on the kids and it’s hard to get through that,” Beilein said. “We just convinced them every time out you’re winning this game. Sure enough we made all of our foul shots down the stretch and got a good win.”
“It’s great to get this road win and we’re so happy to finally stop talking about it and just go out and play basketball,” added Young.
The Mountaineers got off to a bad start trailing 12-4 before going on a 31-16 run to take a seven-point lead, 35-28, with 3:35 left in the first half.
Rutgers closed to within one when forward Adrian Hill scored a lay-up ahead of the halftime buzzer.
After a Hill dunk made it 48-45 Rutgers with 15:16 remaining, WVU got a pair of 3s from Smalligan and Alexander to retake the lead, 51-50. A big stretch for the Mountaineers came with 7:59 left when Butler went to the basket for a lay-up and Alex Ruoff followed with a three-point play to make it 67-61.
An Alexander dunk with 3:53 left made it a seven-point game and Rutgers turned it into a free-throw shooting contest from there. The Mountaineers made 10 of 14 from the line over the remaining 2:00 to improve to 17-4, 6-3.
“When I’m playing the five-man they still put a guard type on me and they’re putting the center on Joe (Alexander) and that’s kind of been an advantage for us,” said Young. “That’s when Joe gets backdoor dunks.”
Rutgers (9-13, 2-7) got 19 points from Jaron Griffin, 16 from J.R. Inman and 15 from Hill.
The Scarlet Knights made 34 of 64 from the field for 53.1 percent.
West Virginia’s Wellington Smith, also playing in front of friends and family as a resident from nearby Summit, N.J., came off the bench to contribute six key points.
“We wanted to make sure we got him in there and he gives us a lot of stuff and it’s the age-old question: who do you sit down so he can play?” said Beilein. “I made a decision that I was going to play 10 today because of the three games in seven days. "We always like if a kid is back home -- get them in the game because you never know what will happen.”
WVU returns to New Jersey Saturday to take on Seton Hall at noon.
