Mountaineers Pummel Gators
Portland, OR - The West Virginia Mountaineers (6-1) throttled the Florida Gators (4-3) in the final consolation game of the PK85 Legacy Invitational 84-55. Forward Trey Mitchell led all scorers with 17 rebounds while guard Erik Stevenson registered 17 points on an efficient 6-8 shooting from the floor and forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. recorded 13 points on the night.
Florida's Will Richard registered the game's first basket off a bad pass from WVU guard Kedrian Johnson for an easy lay-in, but Johnson responded on the ensuing possession, finding guard Erik Stevenson on a backdoor pass to even the game at two.
Stevenson seven points in the opening four minutes of the game helped the Mountaineers gain a 12-8 edge over the Gators.
The Gators tied the game at 12 but went 1-8 from the field and the Mountaineers went on a 10-0 run and jumped out to a 22-12 lead at the 13:04 mark of the first half.
West Virginia forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. drove the ball from the left wing directly to the basket, soared through the air and slammed it down to extend the Mountaineers lead to 13, 30-17, with 8:36 remaining in the half.
The Mountaineers led by as many as 16 before shooting 1-7 from the field and committing three turnovers but were able to keep a double figure advantage and a pass from Seth Wilson to Trey Mitchell along the baseline ended the drought and WVU extended its lead back up to 13 with 2:50 left in the first half.
West Virginia proceeded to shoot 1-6 from the field and the Gator were able to produce five points in the final two minutes in cut into the WVU lead and get within eight at the break, 41-33.
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Matthews got the Mountaineers rolling in the second half, burying a three on the opening possession, igniting a Mountaineers 13-2 run and capped it with a deep two (originally recorded as a three until further review), scoring seven points during that stretch and extending the lead quick eight points in the first three and a half minutes.
West Virginia produced seven straight points out of the timeout, upping the run to 20-2 out of the break. Stevenson buried his third three in as many attempts for his 15th point of the game and Mohamed Wague ended the spurt with an emphatic slam dunk as the Mountaineers pushed their lead 26, 35-61, at the 14:35 mark of the second half.
The Mountaineers went scoreless for four and a half minutes but kept the Gators in check, holding them to just 4-16 from the field in the second half. Trey Mitchell ended the drought driving to the basket, drawing the foul, and hitting both free throws.
West Virginia maintained its distance from Florida throughout the second half. Emmitt Matthews Jr. came away with 10 second half points, ending the night with 13, and Mohammed Wague snagged all nine of his rebounds in half number two, and seven of his eight points came in the final 20 minutes of the game.
The Mountaineer held the Gators to a mere 22 second half points as West Virginia cruised to a 85-55 victory.
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