Forward Fousseyni Traore's game-high 20 points and 10 rebounds led 25^th-ranked BYU to a 77-56 victory over West Virginia Saturday night at the Marriott Center in Provo, Utah.
 
The Mountaineers led the Cougars 19-15 before BYU used a 10-0 run over the remaining 3:13 of the first half to take a 25-19 lead into the locker room at intermission.
 
In the second half, BYU chose to go inside to Traore, and as a result, the Cougars shot 60.6% in second half and outscored West Virginia 52-37.
 
"I thought we had the game going exactly how we wanted," West Virginia coach Darian DeVries said afterward. "We had the crowd out of it. We were trying to slow it down and it was very similar to the Texas Tech game when we controlled the first 17 minutes. 
 
"We came out of the timeout with three minutes to go reminding them of Texas Tech and we've got to finish this first half off defensively and making sure we get good shots to finish off the half," DeVries said. "Unfortunately, it just didn't happen."
 
The Cougars had a 46 to 22 edge in paint scoring and their superior depth outscored West Virginia's bench 43 to 16.
 
Egor Demin, who led BYU with 16 points in the Cougars' win last month in Morgantown, chipped in with 15 and leading scorer Richie Saunders added 13.
 
Traore's work near the basket made up for BYU's cold 3-point shooting. The Cougars finished the game just five of 15 from behind the arc, all five coming in the second half when the game got away from West Virginia.
 
Traore also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds as BYU controlled the glass by a 43-to-32 margin.
 
The Cougars' largest lead was 30 points, 73-43, with 3:26 remaining.
 
"In the second half, they went to more Saunders driving it and he was able to get to the rim a little bit more and finish," DeVries said. "Then, we knew we had to play one-on-one in the post (against Traore) with all their shooting. He was really the difference in the game that broke it open."
 
Guard Javon Small was the only West Virginia player to reach double figures with 15 points. He was five of 14 from the floor and was double-teamed the moment he crossed midcourt.
 
An announced crowd of 17,978 watched tonight's game.
 
The victory was the sixth in a row for BYU, now 21-8 overall and 12-6 in Big 12 play, and the Cougars have moved into a tie with Iowa State for fourth place in the conference standings.
 
West Virginia falls to 17-12 overall and 8-10 in conference play with a Tuesday night game at Utah looming. The Utes, now coached on an interim basis by Josh Eilert, got an impressive 99-73 victory over Arizona State earlier today. Utah 16-13 overall and tied with WVU in ninth place in the standings.