MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia received contributions from all nine players who got into the game in tonight's 75-69 victory over Massachusetts at the WVU Coliseum.
 
Tucker DeVries' 17 points led a balanced scoring attack that included 16 from forward Amani Hansberry, 12 from guard Javon Small and 10 off the bench from freshman guard Jonathan Powell.
 
Seven of Powell's points came late in the first half when WVU went on an 8-0 run to lead 45-28 at the break.
 
But UMass (1-1) used a 1-1-3 zone defense for a portion of the second half that led to a six-minute field goal drought that ended with DeVries' 3 from the wing to give the Mountaineers a 63-52 lead.
 
A Daniel Rivera layup and free throw made it a seven-point game with 2:45 left, but Hansberry answered with a close one at the other end and then free throws by DeVries and Hansberry got the lead back to 11.
 
The game tonight was won at the free throw line where West Virginia made 25 of 29 from the charity stripe while UMass missed seven of its 20 attempts, four of those coming from Jaylen Curry late in the second half.
 
"We knew what this game was going to be – it was going to be tough; it was going to be physical, and it was going to be hard-fought, and it certainly didn't disappoint," West Virginia coach Darian DeVries said afterward. "I thought we did some really good things at times, especially in the first half, but in the second half there were a lot of learning opportunities for us."
 
The Mountaineers (2-0) shot just 25% after intermission and finished the game 21 of 57 overall for 36.8%. From behind the arc, where West Virginia made 14 in its 28-point win over Robert Morris on Monday night, it was 8 of 23 for 34.8%.
 
WVU also turned the ball over eight times in the second half when Massachusetts turned up the pressure.
 
"When you have a lead, you've got to continue to keep your foot on the gas and I thought we let up a little bit at both ends of the floor and it allowed a good team to claw back into it," DeVries explained. 
 
Every player on the floor for the Mountaineers scored, grabbed at least one rebound and five different players made 3s. WVU had a 36 to 34 advantage on the glass and turned 15 Minutemen turnovers into 22 points.
 
Other specialty stats in WVU's favor were bench scoring (23 to 8) and fastbreak points (19 to 6), which compensated for UMass' 32 to 24 edge in paint scoring.
 
Guard Rahsool Diggins led everyone with 19 points, but he made just 5 of his 14 field goal attempts and got 8 of his game-high total in the final 16 seconds when the outcome was already decided.
 
Rivera tallied 14 while Curry and Dani Hankins-Sanford scored 13 each.
 
"When we were playing aggressive at both ends of the floor, I really like the way our team can produce offensively, and defensively, I think they can be elite when they are hooked up the way they were," DeVries said. 
 
"We got an opportunity to play against an elite shot-blocking team and we'll learn a lot from this experience and be able to take that into practice this week," DeVries added. "From now until March, this team is going to continue to grow. We're going to continue to grow as a coaching staff into how we can put our guys in the right positions and learn how to utilize their talents? And they're going to learn how to win together and learn how to fight through runs like they did today."
 
UMass was making its first appearance in the WVU Coliseum since the 2007 National Invitation Tournament.

An announced crowd of 10,017 watched tonight's game.
 
The Mountaineers will now have a week to get ready for the Backyard Brawl next Friday night at the Petersen Events Center in Pittsburgh. That game against the Panthers will tip off at 8 pm and will be televised on the ACC Network Extra.