Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It wasn't easy, but West Virginia finally got its first Big 12 victory of the season.
 
The Mountaineers (11-7, 1-5) withstood a furious TCU rally and made their free throws down the stretch to pull out a 74-65 victory over the 14^th-ranked Horned Frogs Wednesday night at the WVU Coliseum.
 
"Congratulations to our guys," said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who picked up his 100^th career victory against AP-ranked teams. "They really played. It's really hard to put together a team that hasn't played much together, but we're getting there and we're getting better. Give them credit.
 
"I thought it was a great team effort," he added.
 
In the first half, West Virginia built an 18-point lead because the Mountaineers managed to make it a five-on-five halfcourt game. The Horned Frogs, leading the country averaging 22 fastbreak points per game, didn't have a single fastbreak basket in the first half.
 
"We spent a lot of time making sure we got back on defense at the end of the day I told them, 'If you score, they can't fastbreak on you,'" Huggins said.
 
After intermission, TCU (14-4, 3-3) had four fastbreak baskets and made 11-of-13 from the floor at one point to whittle WVU's lead down to two, 62-60, on Jakobe Cole's layup with 5:14 remaining.
 
This happened two minutes after West Virginia's leading scorer, Tre Mitchell, saw his night end prematurely when he picked up his fifth foul on a technical for arguing a no-call underneath WVU's basket. West Virginia's lead was reduced to six after Mike Miles' free throw, but it got back to eight on an Emmitt Matthews Jr. dunk.
 
When the lead was down to two, Huggins called timeout with 5:02 left and told his team to get the ball inside to forward Jimmy Bell Jr. His players complied, and WVU came out of it with a couple of Bell free throws.
 
"We wanted to throw it to Jimmy as much as could throw it to him, particularly early," Huggins said.
 
A Damion Baugh turnover opened the door for more points when Erik Stevenson found Bell wide open along the baseline for a slam dunk to move the lead to six with 3:44 left. A tough Joe Toussaint basket in the paint got it back to eight, and the margin returned to double digits on free throws by Bell and Kedrian Johnson, who finished the night with a career-high 20 points.
 
"Keedy is our heart and soul on both ends of the floor," Huggins said.
 
Matthews Jr. hit another free throw, making it 8-of-10 over the final seven minutes of the game. Overall, West Virginia finished 20 of 26 from the charity stripe after missing a Big 12-most 45 free throws in its five league losses.
 
TCU out-shot West Virginia 52.4% to 46.3% because its accurate second half shooting, but the Mountaineers took 12 more shots than the Horned Frogs because they dominated the glass, 31 to 18.
 
Bell finished with 15 points and a season-high 12 rebounds. Matthews Jr. also reached double figures with 10.

"I had a little motivation before the game with people texting me telling me (TCU's Eddie Lampkin Jr.) was the best big in the Big 12 and I just took it personal," Bell Jr. said. "He's a good player and I played against him during AAU season, so we kind of knew each other and I had a good night."
 
"I thought Jimmy was fantastic and Trey was really good, and our guards rebounded the ball too," Huggins said.
 
Miles led all scorers with 21 - two points above his season average.
 
Points in the paint, a big advantage for West Virginia in the first half, evened out over the remainder of the game with the Mountaineers only leading that category 36 to 32.
 
West Virginia's biggest lead was 18 points with 1:06 left in the first half.
 
TCU, which is now winless in 11 tries in the Coliseum, outscored 41-35 in the second half.
 
"It seems like six years since we've won a game," a relieved Huggins said. "Now we get ready for Texas, and we've got Texas here in the Coliseum and what a great crowd for a weekday game. The student section was absolutely fantastic over there. I hope everybody understands how much better we are when they're in here cheering."
 
Tonight's attendance was listed as 11,402.
 
Despite its five-game Big 12 slide, West Virginia's computer numbers were still strong heading into tonight's game. The Mountaineers were ranked 30^th in the NET, 30^th in the BPI and 24^th in the latest Kenpom ratings based on having the fourth-toughest schedule in the country.
 
WVU's NET should get a big boost by defeating the No. 22 Horned Frogs tonight and could get an even bigger lift if it can follow up with a victory over No. 11 Texas on Saturday night.
 
The game will tip off at 6 p.m. and will be televised nationally on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU. The contest has already been announced a sell out.