Harris' Career-High 20 Boosts WVU on Saturday

Saturday, December 22

Morgantown, W.Va.

Noon

West Virginia University

7-4

Jacksonville State

7-5

Jacksonville State

West Virginia

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

December 22, 2018 02:59 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score WVU-Jacksonville State Quotes Game Photos Box Score

By: John Antonik

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Wesley Harris followed up a career high with another career high. The junior forward was two points better than the 18 he scored last Sunday against Rhode Island to help West Virginia defeat Jacksonville State 74-72 in front of 8,231 at the WVU Coliseum this afternoon.

Harris made eight of his 11 field goal attempts and it was his clutch 3-point shooting late in the game that helped the Mountaineers hold off the Gamecocks.

"I'm really proud of Wes," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "Wes is a guy who was a hustle player for us a year ago. Today he went and got some big-boy rebounds and made big, big shots for us."

West Virginia (7-4), playing without starting center Sagaba Konate, who could be out for two to four weeks according to what Huggins said on his pregame radio show, also played all but four minutes without its top scorer Esa Ahmad.

Ahmad scored two points before being taken out of the game and he didn't return. Lamont West stepped in and scored 18 points off the bench on seven-of-12 shooting, including four-of-six from 3.

At one point in the first half, Huggins had three freshmen on the floor at the same time – Brandon Knapper, Emmitt Matthews Jr. and Derek Culver – and he later used a three-forward lineup for a good portion of the second half when WVU built its lead to nine, 49-40, on West's 3.

"Those were the guys I thought gave us the best chance to win," Huggins said.

But Jacksonville State (7-5) battled back to take a 58-57 lead on Jason Burnell's layup, forcing Huggins to call timeout with 8:35 remaining. The Mountaineers got points following the stoppage when Harris followed up Jermaine Haley's miss, and then Haley stole the inbounds pass and scored to make it 61-58, WVU.

A Knapper 3 gave West Virginia a 64-62 lead with 6:29 remaining, and another West 3 with 4:20 left put the Mountaineers back in front, 68-66.

Following the under-four timeout and Christian Cunningham making just one of two at the free throw line, Harris responded with another big 3 from the corner to give the Mountaineers a 71-67 advantage.

A fourth Harris 3 pushed the lead to five, 74-69, with 1:46 to go. But two Burnell free throws and a couple of close misses by West and Haley gave Jacksonville State an opportunity to try and tie the game, trailing 74-71.

Ty Hudson was fouled by Beetle Bolden away from the ball with 26 seconds left and Hudson could only convert one of his two free throw attempts, making the score 74-72.

Haley grabbed Hudson's miss and was fouled by Cunningham with 23 seconds left. He was unable to convert the front end of a one-and-one, giving Jacksonville State an opportunity to tie the game with a field goal or take the lead with a 3. Burnell got a good look at a 3 from the top of the key with eight seconds remaining, missed, and Chase Harler grabbed the rebound and was fouled with four seconds still showing on the clock.

He also missed, but Bolden was able to deflect a length-of-the-floor pass out of bounds as time expired.

West Virginia did most of its damage from behind the arc, the Mountaineers hitting half of their 24 triples while the Gamecocks were just 3-of-11 from 3.

With Konate sidelined, West Virginia was outscored in the paint 32-16 and was also out-rebounded 36-34.

Jacksonville State got a game-high 26 points from Marlon Hunter. Cunningham added 13.

"They do a great job of when they get a mismatch of getting the ball to an open guy," Huggins said. "We get mismatches all over the place and we can't get the ball to them."

Knapper scored a season-high 12 and Culver contributed four points and a rebound in his first action of the season for WVU, now idle for eight days before playing Lehigh next Sunday afternoon at the Coliseum.