Mountaineers Roll Saturday in Morgantown

Saturday, December 1

Morgantown, W.Va.

4:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

5-2

106

Youngstown State

3-6

Youngstown State

West Virginia

106

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

December 01, 2018 06:28 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score WVU-Youngstown State Box Score WVU-Youngstown State Quotes Game Photos

By: John Antonik

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Esa Ahmad and Beetle Bolden scored 15 points each to lead six West Virginia double-figure scorers in the Mountaineers' 106-72 victory over Youngstown State here at the WVU Coliseum this afternoon.

Today's victory was Bob Huggins' 850^thin 37 seasons as a college basketball coach.

"We got the win and we played a lot of people," Huggins, now 850-343, said of today's victory. "We spread the minutes around pretty good I thought."

No regular played more than starting guard Chase Harler's 24 minutes.

"Those freshmen have just got to play and keep getting better and better," Huggins said. "The more we can get them into the game the better they are going to be."

Sagaba Konate scored the game's first basket and WVU never trailed, the Mountaineers building their lead to double digits on Bolden's steal and layup before the under-16 timeout.

An 11-0 run over the remaining 3:44 gave West Virginia a commanding 55-37 halftime lead.

West Virginia's largest lead was 34 points, 99-65, with 4:11 remaining.

Thirteen different players got into the game and 12 scored for West Virginia. Konate, playing for the first time since last Saturday's Valparaiso, contributed 14 points and a team-high nine rebounds. The junior was also credited with three blocks today to move him to within seven of D'or Fischer's school-record 190 blocks established in 2005.

Wesley Harris, Brandon Knapper and Lamont West scored 10 each for West Virginia, now 5-2 and winners of four straight.

The Mountaineers shot a season-high 54.1 percent from the floor, hitting 40 of its 74 shot attempts. WVU was also credited with 20 assists on its 40 field goals.

"We don't rebound the ball the way we need to rebound the ball and that's the most glaring thing," Huggins said. "I thought our ball movement was better. I thought moved better. We did everything but rebound it."

WVU had a 47-39 edge on the glass, but the Penguins pulled down an alarming 17 offensive rebounds. Both teams took a lot of 3s – Youngstown State attempted 36 and West Virginia 32.

The Penguins, now 3-6, got a game-high 20 points off the bench from Garrett Covington.

Youngstown State shot 37.7 percent from the floor and finished with 15 turnovers, but Huggins was still not satisfied with his team's half-court defense.

"We don't gang-guard the way we need to gang-guard," he pointed out. "We're not in help position and we watch the ball too much. We've got to get better at helping and supporting each other."

An announced crowd of 10,849 watched today's game.

Youngstown State is coached by former Mountaineer assistant coach Jerrod Calhoun, who also coached Fairmont State for five seasons.

West Virginia returns to action this Tuesday night in New York City in Madison Square Garden to face Florida in the Jimmy V Classic. The first game pits Notre Dame against Oklahoma with West Virginia's game scheduled to tip off at approximately 9 p.m.

Both games will be televised nationally on ESPN.

After that, West Virginia returns home to face Pitt in the resumption of the Backyard Brawl. Last year, the Mountaineers and Panthers played for the first time in six years with West Virginia pulling away to record a 69-60 victory.