West Virginia Falls in Ft. Myers Tip-Off

The Mountaineers battled with a short bench but ran out of steam in the second half against the SMU Mustangs to drop their second game of the season

Ft. Myers, FL - West Virginia held an 11-point halftime lead but with a mere seven scholarship players available, fatigue set in for the Mountaineers (2-2) in the second half as the SMU Mustangs (4-1) came back and pulled away with a 70-58 victory. 

Team + Individual Stats vs. SMU

West Virginia center Jesse Edwards was on the receiving end of an alley-oop on the opening possession of the game, then SMU went on a 6-0 spurt capped with Kyle Ambrose-Helton finishing the alley-oop for a 6-2 advantage. 

Mountaineer forward Quinn Slazinski grabbed a steal and drove the paint and followed with consecutive threes for an 8-0 run and a 10-8 lead at the 17:02 mark of the first half. 

West Virginia led 14-10 before SMU went on a 7-0 run, but the Mountaineers reciprocated with a 7-0 run to reclaim the four-point advantage at the midway point of the first half. 

The Mountaineers continued to lob the ball to Edwards, and steadily grew their lead to 11 going into halftime 36-25. Edwards led all scorers with 12 points to go with four rebounds. 

West Virginia freshman Ofri Naveh split a pair of free throws to open the second half before SMU went on an 9-1, led by guard Chuck Harris' five points, to cut into the WVU lead, 38-34.

Slazinski ended the Mountaineers second half field goal drought with a three, but SMU stretched its 9-1 run to 17-4, behind a pair of threes from Ricardo Wright and claimed a one-point lead, 42-41 at the 14:20 mark. 

West Virginia was held scoreless for four and a half minutes as SMU went on a 10-0 run for a 54-47 lead. 

Fatigue continued to settle in for a Mountaineer squad that came into the game with a short roster and SMU took full advantage, with Ricardo White hitting four second half three-pointers to build a 66-54 lead with just under four minutes to play as the Mustangs cruised in the final minutes for a 70-58 win. 

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