Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia used a career-high-tying 18 points from Kedrian Johnson to down pesky Stony Brook 75-64 Thursday night at the WVU Coliseum.
 
Stony Brook didn't play like a 4-9 basketball team this evening, the Seawolves limiting the Mountaineers to just 41.8% shooting for the game and six points below their season scoring average.
 
"Frustrating," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said afterward. "It was a very poor showing tonight on our part."
 
After leading just 28-24 at halftime, West Virginia (10-2) took control of the game in the second half when it went to a four-guard lineup with Kedrian Johnson, Erik Stevenson, Joe Toussaint and Seth Wilson countering Stony Brook's 7-foot Keenan Fitzmorris and 6-foot-10 Kenan Sarvan.
 
Toussiant scored all 12 of his points in the second half and Wilson contributed 9 during a five-minute stretch from 7:44 until 2:51 to finally give WVU a double-digit advantage. Wilson's second 3 with 7:11 left gave the Mountaineers their biggest lead of the game at 19 points, 60-41.
 
Stevenson tallied 12 of his 16 points in the second half as West Virginia connected on half of its 26 second-half field goal attempts.
 
"I was just looking for someone who would play hard and somebody who would pass the ball," Huggins said of his decision to play four guards. "We don't pass the ball. We're trying to run what we've run for however many years, and it's been really good to us because we had guys who can pass the ball and wanted to pass the ball. We need willing passers."
 
In the first half, West Virginia tried to challenge Stony Brook's impressive size and ended up making only 10-of-29 from the floor. 
 
"I think it was good for Jimmy (Bell Jr.) to go against that size, but other than that it didn't bother us," Huggins said. "It bothered Jimmy just because he was the guy who had the ball down there."
 
Stony Brook got 16 from Tyler Stephenson-Moore, 13 from Kenan Sarvan, 11 from Toby Onyekonwu and 10 from Tanahj Pettway. The Seawolves shot 38.5% from the floor and made all 15 of their free throw attempts.
 
West Virginia also shot well from the foul line, hitting 15 of 18, and had a 14 to 2 edge in second chance points and 16 to 5 margin in fast break points, but overall, Huggins was unimpressed with his team's effort.
 
"When the entire coaching staff tells you, 'Stop reaching in.' When the officials tell you, 'Stop reaching in.' You probably should stop reaching in and that didn't hit home with some of our guys," Huggins said.
 
Frankie Policelli pulled down a game-high 14 rebounds but managed just 3 points after scoring 22 in last Sunday's win over Army.
 
Rebounding was even, 33-33.
 
Eleven different players got on the court for the Mountaineers and all but two got into the scoring column. For the second straight game, starting forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. was in street clothes resting his left knee that was injured in the UAB win on Dec. 10.
 
West Virginia will have four days off for Christmas break before resuming preparation for its Big 12 opener at Kansas State on Saturday, Dec. 31. WVU will remain on the road to play at Oklahoma State on Monday, Jan. 2.
 
K-State is now 11-1 after its 73-65 win over Radford Wednesday night while Oklahoma State is 8-4 following recent wins over Wichita State and Texas A&M-Corpus Christi.
 
"I've watched K-State several times and they play really, really hard," Huggins said. "They've got some really good players but they've got other guys who do what they do. They're not out there jacking up shots they can't make. They're passing the ball and they're guarding like crazy because they know that's their ticket to stay on the floor.
 
"They're hungry and right now I question our hunger – not our ability."

The team is slated to return to campus and begin practicing on the Tuesday, Dec. 27.