West Virginia Plays Tough and Knocks off Iowa State

Ames, IA - West Virginia (17-13, 6-11) trailed by seven with 8:44 remaining and fought back for the 72-69 victory over the Iowa State Cyclones (17-12, 8-9) Monday night. WVU guard Erik Stevenson led the Mountaineers in scoring with 23 points, guard Joe Toussaint put in 17 and Emmitt Matthews Jr. finished with 13.

West Virginia guard Erik Stevenson and Iowa State guard Gabe Kalsheur traded buckets to open the game with Kalscheur holding a 7-6 advantage heading into the first media timeout, but on the first possession out of the break, Stevenson buried his third three of the half as the Mountaineers reclaimed the lead 9-7 at the 14.48 mark of the first half.

The two exchanged leads four times until West Virginia guard Joe Toussaint hit consecutive threes to spark an 11-1 run and grabbed an eight-point advantage, 26-18 with just under six minutes to play in the first half.

Iowa State quickly cut the deficit to four, but Toussaint buried his third three of the half and Emmitt Matthews Jr. hit a jumper to cap off a 7-0 run to give West Virginia largest lead of the half of 11.

Erik Stevenson and Joe Toussaint led the Mountaineers in scoring at halftime with 11 points apiece as West Virginia held an eight-point cushion.

Stevenson hit a jumper on the Mountaineers' first possession before Kalscheur drilled a three and a foul underneath on the play, gave the ball back to Iowa State and followed with a bucket for another the Cyclones second five-point possession of the game to cut the deficit to five and rode the momentum as part of a 14-4 run to tie the game at 41 at the 15:12 mark of the second half.

Iowa State took a six-point lead and tempers began to flare on the Mountaineers ensuing possession. WVU forward Tre Mitchell inadvertently elbowed Aljaz Kunc, posturing followed with some pushing and shoving. Mitchell was assessed a flagrant two and was ejected from the game, and two technical fouls on Iowa State. After it all, both team were awarded technical fouls and West Virginia possessed the ball and were able to cut the deficit to one following a Seth Wilson three near the midway point of the second half.

The Cyclones quickly went on a 6-0 run to grab their largest lead of seven with 8:44 left in the game.

West Virginia would fight their way back within two after guard Kobe Johnson got the bucket and the foul, Emmitt Matthews Jr., hit a three from the wing, and Kedrian Johnson knocked in a jumper with 4:15 remaining.

Emmitt Matthews Jr. reclaimed the Mountaineers lead at the 2:10 mark with a pair of free throws. Then, Matthews secured the defensive rebound and dunked it home on the other end to put the Mountaineers up three with 1:17 left in the game.

Joe Toussaint put the Mountaineers up five with two free throws, but Kalscheur answered with a three on the following possession to get the Cyclones within three with 10.1 seconds remaining.

Toussaint was sent to the line with 8.7 seconds and hit both free throws. Iowa State missed the three but got the offensive putback on the other end with just under two seconds remaining.

West Virginia got the ball in bounds and Stevenson was sent to the line where he went 1-2 to push the lead back to three, 72-69, and the Mountaineers intercept a inbounds pass to hold for the win.

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