Another Twenty
February 17, 2007 06:51 PM | General
February 17, 2007
BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Seton Hall hung around, but in the end West Virginia made its shots on the way to recording an 81-71 victory over the Pirates Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.
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| Frank Young drives in for two of his team-high 18 points in West Virginia's 81-71 victory over Seton Hall Saturday at the WVU Coliseum.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Frank Young scored 18 points and Darris Nichols added 17 for the Mountaineers, now 20-6 overall and 8-5 in Big East play. West Virginia’s eight league victories assures WVU of a .500 record in conference play – the same number of regular season victories John Beilein’s 2005 West Virginia team recorded on the way to an NCAA tournament “Elite Eight” run.
“It’s great for us to get to this point where we’ve got eight wins in the Big East and 20 wins overall,” Beilein said. “We still have a long way to go and every single win will certainly help us continue to play in March.”
On Saturday, Seton Hall kept it close until West Virginia used a 13-0 run to take control of the game with 5:36 remaining. A Paul Gause steal and lay up pulled the Pirates to within two, 64-62, before Alex Ruoff answered with a big lay up.
Young added a 3 from the top of the key with 4:24 to go, and a pair of Nichols’ free throws boosted the margin to nine. Young took the ball away from Eugene Harvey and went in for a lay up; two more free throws by Ruoff gave the Mountaineers a 13-point lead.
Young finished off the run with a one-handed slam off a Ruoff steal with 1:47 to go.
“I love the way we came out in the second half. We got that separation and they did get it back down to (two) but we made some big shots and got away from them,” Beilein said.
"The difference in the game was when it could have gone either way, they know how to win," said Seton Hall coach Bobby Gonzalez. "We aren't there yet. We have to get over the hump. But we did play them to the wall and I'm happy about that."
West Virginia made just 2 of 10 from the free throw line in the first half, but hit 8 of 10 inside the five-minute mark of the game.
“I didn’t have a great feeling coming into this one,” Beilein said. “I just felt it’s tough to beat them a second time and if we didn’t shoot the ball well they were going to create points with their defense.”
In addition to Young and Nichols, three other WVU players reached double figures. Joe Alexander and Ruoff scored 13 each, and Da’Sean Butler came off the bench to contribute 11.
West Virginia was 31 of 54 overall for 57.4 percent, and made 9 of 23 from 3-point range for 39.1 percent.
“I was worried about us being fatigued. We gave them some time off but it’s hard when they’re up in your face the whole time, trying to make you back cut and they’re trying to tire your legs out,” Beilein said.
The Pirates were just 3 of 20 from behind the 3-point arc for 15 percent, but made up for that at the free throw line going 18 of 22.
Harvey led all scorers with 19 points; Brian Laing scored 16 points and Stan Gaines and Gause contributed 12 each.
“This kid Paul Gause is unbelievable how he steals the basketball. It’s not like we threw the ball away a lot, we only had 10 turnovers,” Beilein said. “But he had four steals and all of them resulted in baskets.”
Time is running out on Seton Hall (12-13, 3-9). The Pirates have lost four straight and seven of their last eight. Seton Hall is 0-6 in Big East road games this year.
West Virginia keeps pace with Syracuse in the Big East standings with 8-5 records. The Orange knocked off Connecticut in the Carrier Dome earlier today. Georgetown moved into a tie with Pitt at the top of the conference with 10-2 records. The Hoyas outlasted Villanova 58-55 in Philadelphia.
Another key conference game takes place in Milwaukee later tonight when Louisville and Marquette hook up. Both teams are 8-4 in conference action.
West Virginia has a pair of road games coming up at Providence on Feb. 20 and at Pitt on Feb. 27 before winding up the regular season at home on March 3 against Cincinnati.
“Twenty wins is great,” said Beilein, now 97-57 at West Virginia. “A lot of teams can play a soft schedule and get 20 wins. But to get eight Big East wins -- look over the history of a lot of programs and 8-8 in the Big East says a lot.”
