Mountaineers Sweep Cowboys
March 07, 2015 04:43 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – No Juwan Staten. No Gary Browne. No Kevin Noreen. No problem.
Sophomore forward Devin Williams scored 22 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to lead 20th-ranked West Virginia to an 81-72 victory over Oklahoma State here at the WVU Coliseum on Saturday afternoon.
Williams played like a man among boys today, the Cincinnati resident making 4 of 6 from the floor, 14 of 15 from the free throw line, grabbing 10 defensive rebounds and handing out three assists. It was the 16th double-double performance in points and rebounds of Williams’ career.
“Devin was terrific,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “That’s what you want from Dev. He didn’t force things. He got to the free throw line and made shots; he got 13 rebounds and he was a man.”
Meanwhile freshman guard Daxter Miles Jr. contributed 15 points and Nathan Adrian and Jaysean Paige scored 9 each off the bench to help the Mountaineers improve to 23-8 overall and 11-7 to take some momentum into postseason play.
“We made plays when we had to make plays,” said Huggins.
West Virginia played today without senior guards Juwan Staten and Gary Browne, as well as senior forward Kevin Noreen, who are all nursing various injuries. All three made their final walk out on the carpet in street clothes for Senior Day this afternoon.
A crowd of 13,714 watched an entertaining game with both teams shooting better than 60 percent for a good portion of the first half. Oklahoma State (18-12, 8-10) finished the game shooting 54.2 percent overall, including 52.4 percent from 3.
Jeff Newberry led everyone with 23 points on 8-of-11 shooting, while Phil Hickey contributed 17 for the Cowboys.
“We took their best shot because they shot the ball,” said Huggins. “Wow, they shot the ball.”
Oklahoma State had a 12-10 advantage on the glass at halftime but West Virginia flipped that around in the second half by out-rebounding Oklahoma 23-10 to finish the game plus-11 on the glass.
Last month in Stillwater West Virginia out-rebounded Oklahoma State by 17 in a 73-63 Mountaineer victory.
West Virginia’s biggest lead of the game was 15 with 6:43 remaining.
The Mountaineers had sizable advantages over the Cowboys in second-chance points (22-4), bunch points (28-3) and points off of turnovers (19-10).
Today’s win was the first for West Virginia against Oklahoma State in Morgantown since the Mountaineers joined the Big 12 in 2012.
“We’ve got a lot of guys banged up right now but I’m proud of them,” said Huggins. “(Nathan Adrian) has played through a pretty significant deal. Devin’s thumb and Brandon Watkins … they want to win.”
WVU will likely play in the 4-5 game in next week’s Big 12 tournament in Kansas City. Final tournament pairing will be announced by the conference later this evening.
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