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WVU beats VMI 90-55

Miles is the first 20 point scorer for West Virginia this season.
Miles is the first 20 point scorer for West Virginia this season.

No. 15 West Virginia (8-1) started slow but was able to pull away in the second half beating VMI 90-55 Saturday afternoon inside the Coliseum.

Junior guard Daxter Miles led the Mountaineers in scoring with 20 points, the first time a player has reached that mark this year. Meanwhile, senior Brandon Watkins added 11 points and 1o rebounds while sophomore Esa Ahmad had 12 points as the other Mountaineers in double figures.

Overall, West Virginia forced 22 Keydets turnovers while holding VMI to 36-percent from the field and shooting 44-percent from the floor. However, the Mountaineers did turn the ball over 12 times and connected on only 26-42 from the foul line.

The Mountaineers opened the scoring with a three-pointer from Ahmad on the game’s second possession to take an early 3-0 lead less than a minute into the game. The lead would stretch to 8-2 at the 16:08 mark after a Miles three and a Jevon Carter layup.

Watkins was the first man off the bench and provided a spark scoring five points during his three minutes on the floor as the West Virginia advantage sat at 13-6 at the 13:40 mark.

West Virginia would then go deeper into its bench and freshman James Bolden would connect on a pair of threes to stretch the advantage to 20-6 with the Mountaineers seizing early control.

But the Keydets would put together a 11-0 run to cut the advantage to 22-17 with 7:30 remaining in the half but West Virginia would respond scoring a basket to stop the scoring spurt.

Still, the Keydets continued to battle keeping the game within single digits until the 4:03 mark when the Mountaineers pushed the score out to 32-22.

And for the rest of the half, West Virginia would keep VMI at arm’s distance taking a 38-25 advantage into the halftime break. Miles led all scorers with nine points as the Mountaineers had ten players score in the first frame.

West Virginia opened the second half and pushed the advantage back out to a 51-35 advantage as Bolden and Watkins continued to give quality minutes off the bench. Miles would be the first to get into double figures with 12 points nearing the 12 minute mark as the Mountaineers held a 61-41 lead with 12:07 to play in the game.

The home team would continue to pull away in the second half as the Mountaineers took a 74-47 advantage with 8:34 remaining in the game.

From there, Huggins would empty the bench and get a number of players into the game as the Mountaineers cruised to their eighth win of the year.

The Mountaineers will now have a week off before hosting UMKC next Saturday inside the Coliseum with tip off set for 2 p.m.

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