Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Joel Soriano's 22 points and nine rebounds led St. John's to a 79-73 victory over West Virginia in a Big East-Big 12 Battle contest at the WVU Coliseum on Friday night.
 
Tonight's game played out like the Mountaineers' other losses this year to SMU and Monmouth – hang around until the midway point of the second half before running out of gas. WVU was outscored 41-32 in the second half in its eight-point loss to Monmouth and was outscored 45-22 after intermission against the Mustangs.
 
Tonight, St. John's used 11 different players and constant full-court pressure to eventually grind down the gritty Mountaineers, who were still battling right up until the game's final play.
 
The big-man matchup between Soriano and West Virginia's Jesse Edwards never really materialized because Edwards couldn't stay on the floor long enough to keep pace. The senior picked up his second foul late in the first half and spent the remainder of the half on the bench.
 
His third foul with 18:39 to go put him back on the bench where he remained until returning to the floor to pick up foul number four with 7:47 left. Edwards' night ended with 2:27 remaining and West Virginia trailing 69-66.
 
He finished with 15 points and six rebounds in just 22 minutes of action.
 
"The key to beating them was keeping them off the glass and when Jesse was not out there, we were really struggling to clean up anything," West Virginia coach Josh Eilert said. "They had 18 offensive rebounds and 26 second-chance points, I don't know who you are going to play and beat."
 
West Virginia led 22-15 with 13:08 left in the first half before hitting one of its cold spells. The second half saw West Virginia go four minutes without a field goal during one stretch as St. John's built a five-point lead. Then, another field-goal drought lasting five minutes allowed the Red Storm to expand their margin to seven, 58-51, with 7:41 left.
 
Soriano's three-point play with 6:57 remaining gave St. John's a 61-53 lead, its biggest of the game.
 
West Virginia fought back to make it a two-point game with 2:01 remaining on Quinn Slazinski's jumper, but Kobe Johnson, attempting to save the ball behind St. John's basket, threw it back into play right to Nahiem Alleyne, who scored a critical layup with 1:33 remaining to give the Red Storm a two-possession lead.
 
"Credit to them, they made some key plays down the stretch, but they also had some help," Eilert said. 
 
Fatigue also showed up at the free throw line for the Mountaineers where they missed 10 in the second half after making 15 of 17 in the first half. For the game, West Virginia was 31 of 43 from the line against a St. John's team that committed 30 fouls.
 
"At the end of the day, we've got to make free throws down the stretch," Eilert said. "It's all great to get to the line and get your legs under you and set, but you've got to step up there and make some free throws."
 
Chris Ledlum contributed 17 points on 8 of 16 shooting before he fouled out and starting guard Daniss Jenkins also saw his night end because of fouls. The difference was a deeper St. John's bench that got at least 10 minutes of court time from four different players.
 
The bulk of West Virginia's minutes came from only seven players.
 
Neither team shot the ball well. St. John's finished the game connecting on 29 of 69 for 42% while West Virginia was just 19 of 48 for 39.6%.
 
"I thought for the pace, we managed it as well as we possibly could," Eilert said. "We handled their pressure as well as we could, considering the numbers we're working with."
 
Slazinski, playing against his former coach Rick Pitino when the two were once together at Iona, finished with a team-high 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting. However, he missed five of his 13 free throw attempts in the second half.
 
Johnson added 14 and Josiah Harris contributed 10 for West Virginia, which falls to 3-4.
 
Alleyne scored 14 and Jordan Dingle finished with 10 for 5-2 St. John's. The Red Storm defeated West Virginia 70-68 in their other Big East-Big 12 Battle matchup against West Virginia at Madison Square Garden in 2019.
 
West Virginia remains at home to face rival Pitt in the Backyard Brawl next Wednesday night at 9 p.m. The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2.