Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. –
Erik Stevenson scored a career-high 34 points to lead West Virginia to a 93-61 victory over Oklahoma before a sold-out crowd of 14,022 Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum.
As he did in last Saturday's 80-77 win over Auburn when he tallied a game-high 31, Stevenson started scoring early and didn't stop. He had 8 of the team's first 10 points and 15 through the first six minutes of the game in helping the Mountaineers to 21-12 lead.
Tonight's knockout blow came early during a two-minute stretch late in the first half when West Virginia scored 13 straight points to build a commanding 51-26 lead. Five more Stevenson points to finish the half gave WVU a 56-30 advantage at the break.
It was the most points West Virginia scored in the first half this season, exceeding by three the 53 points it scored in its 89-71 victory over Portland State back on Nov. 25.
"I think (Stevenson) took good, makeable shots tonight," West Virginia coach
Bob Huggins said.
Oklahoma (12-11, 2-8) tallied nine straight points early in the second half to reduce West Virginia's lead to 20, forcing Huggins to call timeout. But after the stoppage, the Mountaineers used a 12-1 run to get their lead to 32. All the Sooners could get during that stretch was a Bijan Cortes free throw.
Tanner Groves, who has really hurt West Virginia in recent meetings, scored just 2 points and got his fifth foul with 8:03 remaining. Oklahoma's other big, Sam Goodwin, also fouled out, as did Ortega Oweh.
Huggins thought Groves going to the bench with two early fouls really impacted the Sooners offensively.
Stevenson's career night included 13-of-23 overall, 6-of-11 from 3 and 2-of-4 from the free throw line. He scored his 32
nd point four minutes into the second half and it looked like he might make a run at Notre Dame forward Austin Carr's Coliseum record 47 points scored against the Mountaineers on Feb. 20, 1971.
That didn't happen, of course, but he got plenty of support from teammates
Kedrian Johnson (16 points) and forward
James Okonkwo, who got his first career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Okonkwo scored 6 of his season-high 10 points in the second half on slam dunks.
"James has just gotten better and better and better," Huggins said. "He's a guy who, hopefully down the road this year but certainly a year from now, will be someone to be reckoned with."
Overall, West Virginia made 30 of its 64 field goal attempts for 46.9%, including 9-of-22 from 3-point distance. The Mountaineers grabbed 15 offensive rebounds leading to 22 second chance points and turned 16 OU turnovers into 24 points.
West Virginia's other big advantage came at the free throw line where it doubled up Oklahoma 24 to 12. That's similar to what Oklahoma did to West Virginia at the foul line in the Sooners' one-point victory in Norman last month.
Grant Sherfield led Oklahoma with 16.
Tonight's victory snaps Oklahoma's seven-game winning streak in the series that also included three straight victories at the Coliseum. It was also West Virginia's biggest margin of victory ever against the Sooners, topping its 24-point win at the Ford Center on Dec. 22, 2005, when John Beilein was coaching the Mountaineers.
West Virginia boosts its record to 14-9 overall and 3-8 in the Big 12 and moves past the Sooners into eighth place in the league standings. More importantly, it keeps the Mountaineers on the right side of the bubble in the latest ESPN.com Bracketology.
Coming into today's game, West Virginia joined Kentucky, Oklahoma State and Nevada as the last four teams in the field of 68.
The Mountaineers remain at home to face 13
th-ranked Iowa State next Wednesday night. The Cyclones are coming off an impressive 68-53 win over Kansas earlier today.
"I feel pretty good going into that game, provided we play as hard as we did today," Huggins said. "If we play that hard and compete as we did, and of course it would help if Erik gets hot again. I think we'll be fine."
Tickets are still remaining and can be purchased by logging on to
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