Box Score SAN DIEGO - Tonight, Jevon Carter continued to demonstrate why he is one of the best all-around guards in college basketball. The senior scored 28 points, handed out five assists, grabbed four rebounds and made five steals to power fifth-seeded West Virginia to a 94-71 victory over Cinderella Marshall here at Viejas Arena in San Diego, California.
 
West Virginia is returning to the Sweet 16 for the eighth time in its last 12 NCAA Tournament appearances since 1998, and its fifth under Huggins and third in the last four years.

"We ran into a very good - a very good West Virginia team," Marshall coach Dan D'Antoni said afterwards.
 
The Mountaineers (26-10) will meet No. 1-seeded Villanova, an old Big East rival, in Boston's TD Garden on Friday night.
 
The revival of the old Capital Classic 2,300 miles west of Charleston looked like it might be a down-to-the-wire affair until Carter took over the game.
 
He made 10-of-18 from the floor, including 5-of-7 from 3 and harassed Marshall's best player, Jon Elmore, into committing eight turnovers and going just 4-of-12 from the floor for 15 points - seven below his season average.

According to the TBS research crew during tonight's telecast, Carter is the first player since Allen Iverson to score 28 points, generate five steals and hand out five assists in an NCAA Tournament game.

"My teammates do an unbelievable job of getting me open," Carter said. "I come off a lot of screens. I just play within the game - I let the game come to me."

"That's typical," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, now 13-8 in NCAA Tournament games at WVU, said of his All-America guard. "That's why he was the National Defensive Player of the Year a year ago and probably will be this year. He shattered our steals (record) both in the season and career. He's had a phenomenal career. You have to understand how hard he works to appreciate Jevon Carter. He's the hardest-working guy I think I've ever had."
 
Marshall, making its first NCAA Tournament appearance in 31 years, was hot early, getting rapid-fire 3s from Elmore, Ajdin Penava and Jannson Williams to take a 16-8 lead. But then Huggins opted to adjust his defense by putting more pressure on the ball and the result was a 19-1 run that turned an eight-point deficit into 14-point lead.
 
Elmore really struggled to hold on to the basketball against Carter, committing six of his eight turnovers in the first half. Marshall turned the ball over 11 times in the first 20 minutes and ended the game with 18 miscues.

"Credit to them; they get after it, and they're a heck of a team," Elmore said.
 
A key sequence to propel West Virginia's big first-half spurt came with the Mountaineers leading 23-20 and Elmore out in the open court headed toward the basket.
 
He was met near the rim by Sagaba Konate and instead of drawing a foul or scoring, his teammate Rondale Watson was called for an offensive foul when he was caught pushing James Bolden in the back during the play.
 
At the other end, Daxter Miles Jr. connected on a 3 and Konate added a follow-up dunk on the next possession to turn what should have been a one-point Mountaineer advantage into an eight-point lead.
 
West Virginia then scored six more points after D'Antoni called a timeout to push its lead to 14.
 
Marshall ended the first half on a 1-for-13 field goal drought, the Herd's only bucket coming on Penava's layup with 4:14 remaining.
 
A couple of Lamont West baskets and a Carter 3 extended West Virginia's lead to 45-25, and it soon swelled to 26 on more 3s from Carter and Miles Jr.
 
The Mountaineers' biggest lead was 31 on a baseline alley oop dunk by Esa Ahmad with 5:58 remaining.
 
West, after going scoreless during Friday's 17-point win over Murray State, bounced back with 18 points and a team-high 10 rebounds coming off the bench.
 
West Virginia's other bench scorers Bolden (11) and Allen (eight) were also effective.
 
Ahmad scored 10, grabbed seven rebounds and handed out a career-high seven assists.
 
Penava, Marshall's smooth 6-foot-9-inch shot-blocking forward, led the Thundering Herd (25-11) with 18 points, six rebounds and six assists.

West Virginia completely controlled the glass, 40-24, and outscored the Thundering Herd in the paint, 38-16.

"We thought that was our advantage coming in," Huggins noted. "We didn't want to get in a game playing the way they wanted to play. They're better playing the way they want to play than we are. We're better when we get a lot of possessions."
 
This was the first time in the 45 all-time meetings with Marshall the game was played outside the state of West Virginia. The other 44 were played in either Charleston, Morgantown or Huntington.
 
West Virginia's Wesley Harris and Marshall's Jannson Williams were taken to the locker room in the first half when they collided and butted heads. Neither player returned.
 
The Mountaineers make it four Big 12 teams to advance to the Sweet 16 - Kansas, Texas Tech and Kansas State being the others.

"We're just happy to keep playing," Carter said. "This is March. This is what we came to do. We don't just want to go to the Sweet 16 - we want to win it all, go back, prepare for Villanova, watch a lot of film, and get ready for the next game."
 
Tiipoff for Friday's game against the Wildcats is set for 7:27 p.m. in Boston with the game being broadcast on TBS.