Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Erik Stevenson scored a game-high 18 points to lead West Virginia to a 73-57 victory over Bowling Green in a charity exhibition basketball game Friday night at the WVU Coliseum.
 
Proceeds from the 9,848 fans who came out for tonight's contest support the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Endowment Fund at WVU Medicine.
 
Stevenson, a senior transfer from South Carolina, connected on five of his 11 field goal attempts while making 7-of-9 from the free throw line.
 
Forward Emmitt Matthews Jr., making his WVU return after a year spent at the University of Washington, contributed 14 points on 5 of 10 shooting. Guard Kedrian Johnson made three of his four shot attempts and added 11, while guard Kobe Johnson was 4 of 7 from the floor and scored 8. 
 
The rest of the 12 players who got into tonight's game struggled to consistently make shots, particularly from 3-point distance where the Mountaineers hit on just 4-of-19 from behind the arc. 
 
Freshman Josiah Harris hit two of the four, while Stevenson and Iowa transfer Joe Toussaint had the other two. Toussaint scored 7 points.
 
Overall, West Virginia shot just 37.1% for the game, although it did connect on 44% of its field goal attempts in the second half (14 of 32).
 
WVU's 19 turnovers, many unforced, were another alarming figure.
 
"We had way too many turnovers, obviously," WVU's Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins said. "We've got to stop turning the ball over. That's probably first and foremost. "We didn't shoot it very well at all, we forced shots, and we just didn't play within the contest of what we needed to do at times.
 
"When you run that many people in and out that makes it difficult, too," Huggins added. "But we'll get better."
 
Defensively, the Mountaineers looked much, much better than at any point last season when they surrendered an average of 69 points per game and saw their opponents shoot 44.6% and own a four-rebound advantage on the glass.
 
"We are a lot better defensively, to a large degree that's because of (Mohamed Wague) and (James Okonkwo). James continues to get better and he's going to be a factor because he's really bouncy," Huggins said. "Coming from England, it's a little bit of a different situation for him."
 
Bowling Green, picked to finish ninth in the Mid-American Conference this year, shot just 30.8%, turned the ball over 20 times and was outrebounded by 18, 55-37.
 
Twenty-three of West Virginia's 55 rebounds came on the offensive glass.
 

The Falcons spent a good portion of the game beginning their offensive sets near midcourt against West Virginia's pressure defense. Bowling Green was only 6 of 25 from 3.
 
Guard Samari Curtis led the Falcons with 17 points while forward Gabe O'Neal had 10.
 
University High product Kaden Metheny, making his Morgantown return, finished the night with just 3 points on 1-of-12 shooting.
 
Texas transfer Tre Mitchell (foot) and Triton College transfer Patrick Suemnick (knee) were unavailable for tonight's game for the Mountaineers.
 
"We don't have a lot of continuity yet because we haven't played together," Huggins said. "We are better when we play Joe and Kedy at the same time, but it's difficult to play them at the same time because if both of those guys get into foul trouble, we don't have anybody else to lean on."
 
The next time we see this team on Monday, Nov. 7, against Mount St. Mary's the score will count in the record books.
 
Tickets for that game and others remain on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.