Mountaineer Defense Stifles Mercyhurst in Hope Coliseum Rout

Sunday, November 30

Morgantown, W.Va.

3 p.m.

West Virginia University

6-2,0-0Big 12

Mercyhurst

3-5,0-0NEC

Mercyhurst

West Virginia

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

Mountaineer Defense Stifles Mercyhurst in Hope Coliseum Rout

November 30, 2025 05:52 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score Photo Gallery

By: John Antonik

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia limited Mercyhurst to just 16 second-half points in a 70-38 victory over the Lakers Sunday afternoon at Hope Coliseum.

It was the fewest points a Mountaineer opponent has scored since the "Press Virginia" days when they limited Coppin State to 38 points in a 39-point victory at the Coliseum on Dec. 20, 2017.

"I thought we got off to a great start defensively," West Virginia coach Ross Hodge said, after beginning his postgame remarks by offering his condolences to the family of slain West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom and his prayers for Andrew Wolfe's recovery. Both were shot in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday, Nov. 26.

"I thought we really set the tone early," Hodge stated.

Mercyhurst shot just 33.3% overall and really couldn't do much outside of senior guard Bernie Blunt III's game-high 14 points. Ten of those came during a six-minute stretch in the first half when the Lakers were still in the game.

"Really, the only complaint I have defensively was that one little stretch when we let Bernie Blunt going, their best player," Hodge said. "We were late on some rotations. We were switching a lot, which when you switch a lot you can be guarding a drive then all of a sudden you could be guarding the sniper, and we didn't identify those guys (quickly enough).

"Outside of that, I felt like our defensive communication, ball pressure and deflections were really good, and in some ways got better as the game went on," Hodge added.

The Mountaineers (6-2) closed out the first half on a 17-5 run to take a 39-22 lead into the locker room at intermission.

West Virginia's largest lead was 33 points with 5:50 remaining.

Twelve different players got into the game and 10 got into the scoring column, led by Chance Moore's 11 points. He becomes the seventh different player in eight games to lead the team in scoring.

Freshman guard Amir Jenkins finished with 10, his first double-digit scoring effort for the season.

"Amir and Chance were really aggressive getting downhill and closed the first half right and began the second half right," Hodge said.

Senior guard Treysen Eaglestaff (9 points and eight rebounds) and Moore (nine rebounds) flirted with double-doubles. Troy transfer Jackson Fields made his season debut and finished with 9 points, three rebounds and two assists in 12 minutes of action. He sat out the first seven games of the season with a preseason wrist injury.

"Offensively, just like I told the team, we can keep getting better and that's the beauty of it," Hodge said. "It's about to be December, but it's still early and those guys know that they can play better as individuals, but collectively, I thought our attention to detail was good."

Specialty stats of note for West Virginia were the Mountaineers' 37-to-7 advantage in bench scoring, 36-to-16 edge in paint scoring, 44-to-27 margin on the glass.

Mercyhurst, making its second-ever appearance at the Coliseum, committed 15 turnovers.

An announced crowd of 10,319 attended today's game.

West Virginia has a quick turnaround with a game on Wednesday night against Coppin State at Hope Coliseum.

Tickets remain and can be purchased through the Mountaineer Ticket Office by logging on to WVUGAME.com.