Box Score Freshman guard Miles McBride came off the bench to score a game-high 18 points to power West Virginia to a 60-55 victory over Northern Iowa in the Cancun Challenge here at the Hard Rock Hotel in Riviera Maya, Mexico.
 
The victory advances the Mountaineers to tomorrow night's championship game against Wichita State, which routed South Carolina in tonight's first game.
 
The Mountaineers rallied from 15 points down with 10:51 remaining in the second half to win their fifth game of the season. McBride was the catalyst, the freshman hitting 6-of-12 field goals, assisting on five more baskets, blocking two shots and grabbing a couple of defensive rebounds.
 
WVU used a 33-13 run over the remaining 10:32 of the game to overcome a miserable first half offensive performance that saw the Mountaineers score only 20 points.
 
"We went to pressure because that was we had to speed the game up, we couldn't let them play at their tempo," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "We were fortunate enough to get some turnovers and some baskets off of turnovers and finally some shots."

"It's a long game and we knew if we could just lock up on defense we would get in rhythm and we could make a comeback," McBride said.
 
UNI primarily uses just six players and a key moment in the game came with 1:58 remaining when 6-9 forward Austin Phyfe picked up his fifth foul, and was soon joined by 7-foot backup center Justin Dahl when he was disqualified 53 seconds later.
 
That left Northern Iowa with no size to protect the rim and allowed Emmitt Matthews Jr. to crash the glass and tip in McBride's missed jumper with 17 seconds left to give WVU a 56-55 lead.
 
Matthews Jr. was undercut by Spencer Haldeman on the play and after reviewing the replay monitor ruled it was a flagrant 1 foul and awarded WVU to free throws and possession of the basketball.
 
Sean McNeil was brought in to attempt the free throws on behalf of Matthews, who hit his head hard on the floor when he fell to the ground and was taken out of the game.
 
Huggins said there were other instances where his bigs went crashing hard to the ground.
 
"I was complaining because it happened to Derek twice and it happened to Oscar (Tshiebwe) once," he said.
 
McNeil made one of two at the line and on the ensuing possession, McBride was fouled after catching Jermaine Haley's inbound pass and converted another free throw to give the Mountaineers a 58-55 lead.
 
On the other end, Northern Iowa's A.J. Green missed a short jumper, McBride grabbed the rebound and was fouled by Isaiah Brown. The freshman walked to the other end to score the game's final two points.
 
"Deuce made some huge shots for us," Huggins said. "He's in the huddle at the end when we needed to get it up the floor he's saying, 'Just give it to me. I'm good.'"
 
West Virginia shot just 37 percent but it was far worse in the first half when it was shooting in the low 20s.
 
UNI (6-1) wasn't shooting much better until the early portion of the second half when it used a 16-4 run to take a 15-point lead.
 
Brown was the only Panther player to reach double figures with 15 on 7-of-9 shooting. UNI's two other shooters, Green and Haldeman, shot a combined 4-of-25 from the floor, including 1-of-12 from 3-point range.
 
Overall, Northern Iowa was 3-of-20 from behind the arc.
 
West Virginia wasn't much better, the Mountaineers getting four of their 17 triples to go down.
 
Haley added 10 and Derek Culver, despite missing all five of his field goal attempts, pulled down 15 rebounds and got three of his five free throw attempts to fall through the cylinder.
 
Culver is really struggling to find his shooting stroke through the first five games as the sophomore has converted just 11 of his 38 field goal attempts for 28.9 percent.
 
West Virginia, which expected to have an advantage on the glass, was outrebounded 38-34.
 
"I learned that we're resilient but I also learned that we've got a long, long, long way to go," Huggins said. "We are really, really young."
 
The West Virginia-Wichita State game will follow the Northern Iowa-South Carolina clash at 6 p.m.
 
Both games will be televised nationally on CBS Sports Network.