West Virginia Earns its Fourth Victory of the Season

Wednesday, November 28

Morgantown, W.Va.

6:30 p.m.

West Virginia University

4-2

Rider

2-2

Rider

West Virginia

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

November 28, 2018 09:21 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score WVU-Rider Box Score WVU-Rider Postgame Quotes Game Photos

By: John Antonik

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Lamont West came off the bench to score 20 and Esa Ahmad followed up his career-best 30 points last Saturday with 16 in West Virginia's 92-78 victory over Rider here at the WVU Coliseum Wednesday night.

West made four-of-five from 3-point distance, hit four-of-five from the free throw line and added seven rebounds.

"We looked pretty good for a while, passed the ball, and looked like a team that liked each other," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.

The Mountaineers, playing without injured starting forward Sagaba Konate, got 12 points from guard Beetle Bolden, all in the first half, 11 from Chase Harler and a season-high 11 from freshman forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. coming off the bench.

"Emmitt Matthews didn't (give up straight-line drives) at the other end," Huggins said. "He kept balls alive here and he made some cuts without the ball."

Another freshman, Jordan McCabe, entered the game with 7:02 left in the first half and West Virginia trailing 28-21. In the next five minutes the Mountaineers got a wing 3 from Ahmad, assisted by McCabe, a wing 3 from West, assisted by McCabe, and another deep 3 from West, also assisted by McCabe.

A seven-point deficit turned into a 32-28 lead in a matter of three minutes because of McCabe's ability to pass the basketball to open players instead of dribbling the ball with his back to the basket and his head down.

WVU finished the half with a Wesley Harris dunk off of Harler's feed and West's deep 3 before the horn sounded to give the Mountaineers a 43-36 halftime advantage.

After Rider's Jordan Allen began the second half with a 3, West Virginia used a 13-point run to build its lead to 17, 56-39, on a pair of Logan Routt free throws. Routt started in place of Konate and finished with 7 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

"Logan wasn't good to start and then Logan played really well after that," Huggins noted.

Konate did not participate in the team's last two practices but he was dressed and sat on the bench for tonight's game.

West Virginia's largest lead was 19, 75-56, with 9:20 remaining.

Rider (2-2) made a little run to reduce the Mountaineers' lead to 10, 82-72, on Stevie Jordan's basket with 3:35 left, but West Virginia answered with Matthews transition dunk, once again assisted by McCabe.

McCabe handed out a season-high eight assists in 17 minutes of action, 12 of those coming in the second half when Huggins opted to sit Bolden and not risk another injury in a chippy game that saw three technicals and a flagrant 1 foul called on the Broncs.

"I didn't see any need in him going out there and getting hurt," Huggins said. "He's a competitor and he won't tell you when he's getting really tired or starting to cramp. I didn't want him to get cramps again because the cramps kept him out for a while."

After shooting just 21 percent to begin the game, West Virginia finished 30-of-70 for 42.9 percent. The Mountaineers had a 46-36 advantage on the glass and outscored Rider's bench 37-29.

Frederick Scott led five Rider double-figure scorers with 17 points on seven-of-12 shooting. The Broncs' two leading scorers, Dimencio Vaughn and Jordan Allen, scored 11 points each.

Rider shot 45.5 percent for the game, an improvement for a WVU defense that allowed Valparaiso to shoot 53.6 percent in last Saturday's 12-point Mountaineer victory. West Virginia's best half-court defensive possession came with 4:12 remaining and the Mountaineers leading 82-70. After Ahmad committed a turnover trying to advance the ball in the open court, West Virginia locked down on the Broncs and defended the entire shot clock before forcing Kimar Williams to turn over the basket as the shot clock was about to expire.

Tonight's victory boosts West Virginia's record to 4-2 with Saturday's game at the Coliseum against Youngstown State looming.

The Penguins are coached by former Mountaineer assistant and Fairmont State head coach Jerrod Calhoun. Youngstown State owns a 3-4 record before tonight's game at Robert Morris.