West Virginia Avoids Early Season Upset and Outlasts Eastern Kentucky
The West Virginia Mountaineers captured their fifth win of the season after narrowly escaping the Eastern Kentucky Colonels 80-77 Friday night.
Eastern Kentucky buried four consecutive threes to begin the game, two coming from forward Jannson Williams as the Colonels jumped out to a 12-2 advantage.
West Virginia guard Taz Sherman got three the old-fashioned way before guard Sean McNeil hit a corner three to get the Mountaineers within four. Nonetheless, the Colonels' offense remained efficient, building back up to a double-digit lead and ramping up their defense with a 2-2-1 press that caused an early turnover.
The Mountaineers broke the defensive pressure, but McNeil couldn't connect despite the open looks. However, forward Gabe Osabuohien kept West Virginia within striking distance with a pair of offensive putback along with Pauly Paulicap.
West Virginia started to speed up Eastern Kentucky by applying fullcourt pressure with some timely traps. The Mountaineers forced six of the eight Colonels' first half turnovers in three minutes, igniting a 10-0 run, capped off with a corner three from Taz Sherman as the Mountaineers grabbed their first lead of the game, 36-35 with 2:17 remaining in the half. After that, however, the Colonels started to escape the pressure, leading to easy buckets on the other end and taking a three-point advantage into the break 41-38, while West Virginia missed opportunities from the free throw line, going 8-16 in the first half.
Williams came out of the break, hitting his fourth three of the game, and Sherman answered on the other end to keep the game within three.
Eastern Kentucky kept West Virginia at arm's length with its continuous efficient shooting from the outside, leading by as many as seven before West Virginia constructed a 9-1 run and regaining a one-point advantage 57-56 with 12:42 play. However, The Colonels went on a 7-0 spurt but, again, Sherman got the Mountaineers within three with a triple from the wing.
Gabe Osabuohien cut the deficit to one with a post, but good ball movement by the Colonels led to a Cooper Robb corner three to push the lead back to four.
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Dimon Carrigan second chance putback, then a pair of free throws from Malik Curry followed by a steal and a layup on the other end put the Mountaineers back up one. Michael Moreno delivered Eastern Kentucky's 13th three of the game, putting the Colonels back up to, but Sherman buried a three from the left wing to give the Mountaineers back the one-point advantage with 4:20 left in the game.
On the ensuing Mountaineer possession, Sherman drove down the right baseline, pump-faked, got the defender in the air, drew the foul and made the bucket. He missed the free throw, but Carrigan grabbed the board, setting up an off-balanced runner, putting the Mountaineers up four 75-71.
Curry extended the lead to five with 36 seconds remaining in the half, driving down the lane for the lay-in and finished with a Mountaineer career-high 16 points as West Virginia held off the Colonels 80-77.
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