Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Freshman Brandon Knapper picked the right time to have the best game of his young college basketball career.
 
With Beetle Bolden out for the second straight game with an injured ankle and West Virginia coming off three straight double-digit losses, the South Charleston product scored a career-high 25 points to lift the Mountaineers to a 79-71 victory over Oklahoma here at the WVU Coliseum this afternoon.
 
"Knap came to play the way everybody thought Knap was going to play all year, really," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.
 
Knapper, who came into today's game averaging 4.5 points per game had having seven more turnovers than assists, performed like a completely different player this afternoon.
 
"(Jevon Carter) and (Daxter Miles Jr.) kept saying Knap is going to be really good, they just didn't tell me I was going to have to wait this long," Huggins joked. "He's gotten better in practice. His practice habits are better and I think it's a mindset really."
 
Today's triumph was West Virginia's first victory in two weeks, its last coming two Saturdays ago against seventh-ranked Kansas on Jan. 19.
 
Aside from Knapper's scoring, the Mountaineers won today's game because they dominated the backboard by out-rebounding the Sooners 46-30. Frequently, West Virginia's best offense was missing its initial shot and then Esa Ahmad, Derek Culver and Wesley Harris crashing in the glass. 
 
The trio grabbed 16 of West Virginia's 18 offensive rebounds to give it a 27-9 advantage in second-chance points.
 
Culver finished with 13 points and 14 rebounds, Ahmad scored 12 and grabbed 13 rebounds and Harris contributed 13 points and seven boards.
 
"Thirty-four rebounds from our frontline, that's awfully good," Huggins said. "I thought it was the best effort combined from those three we've had all year."
 
"It's pretty clear that boards were the biggest difference," added Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger. "They had their way with us inside."
 
Oklahoma (15-7, 3-6) had things going its way with an early 15-10 lead and the Sooners led 26-25 with 3:27 remaining before West Virginia finished the half scoring the final eight points.
 
Knapper got a drive into the lane to go down off the glass, Chase Harler made a pair of free throws, Ahmad followed Logan Routt's miss and then freshman guard Trey Doomes completed the first-half scoring with two more at the line.
 
Huggins called timeout with 10 seconds left to put Doomes into the game looking to get something going at the rim.
 
In the second half, West Virginia (10-12, 2-7) built its lead to nine, 47-38, when Ahmad grabbed Harris' miss and found Jordan McCabe open beyond the top of the key for a 3.
 
The Sooners eventually got their deficit down to one, 59-58, by driving to the basket and going to the free throw line nearly every time down the floor. During one four-minute stretch Oklahoma scored nine points despite taking just one shot attempt (an Aaron Calixte missed jumper).
 
OU made 18-of-19 from the line in the second half, including two from Kristian Doolittle with 4:52 remaining to make it a 63-60 game. Here, Huggins chose to switch to a 3-2 zone to try and slow down OU dribble penetration. 
 
It worked.
 
Brady Manek lost possession of the basketball and Culver scored on a nifty move to the basket with 3:30 left to put the Mountaineers ahead by five.
 
"We've been working a little bit on a 3-2 zone and it bothered them at first and then (Kruger) called timeout and made some adjustments," Huggins said. 
 
After the Culver score, OU also switched to a zone, leading to a stop and a Manek wide open 3 from the corner.
 
Huggins called timeout with 1:59 remaining to get his team organized and out of that came a step-in 3 by Knapper from the wing to make it 68-63.
 
"The first time down we tried to run a little zone motion and basically we were just standing around," Huggins explained. "Then we went to a set out of it. I told them not to force. We need to get a good step-in shot or catch it in the paint and Knap had a step-in shot and knocked it down."
 
Another big basket came from Culver with 37 seconds to go when he followed up Ahmad's miss to make it a five-point game.
 
Then, it was Knapper making six straight from the free throw line and Culver adding two more with seven seconds remaining.
 
Oklahoma, coming off its worst home loss since 1963 on Monday night against Baylor, shot just 42 percent from the floor and turned the ball over 15 times.
 
Manek led the Sooners with 18 on seven-of-10 shooting while Calixte contributed 17 off the bench.
 
West Virginia shot 42.4 percent from the floor and finished shooting 66.7 percent from the free throw line by hitting 16-of-21 in the second half.
 
Knapper was seven-of-10 from the floor and seven-of-nine from the free throw line for his game-high 25.
 
"We talked before the game that we've just got to play hard and not turn it over too much," Huggins said.
 
WVU's victory today now matches ninth-place Oklahoma in the win column, although the Cowboys have two fewer losses heading into this evening's game against Kansas State.
 
Eighth-place Oklahoma now moves closer into range just one-game ahead of the Mountaineers in the league standings at 3-6.

It was the Mountaineers' fourth straight win against the Sooners.
 
West Virginia has a quick turnaround facing 16^th-ranked Texas Tech out in Lubbock Monday night in a 9 p.m. game that will be televised nationally on ESPN.
 
From this point until the remainder of the season, West Virginia will alternate home and away games.