Mountaineers fall 79-67 to Baylor to end tough trip to Texas
After a brutal game in Lubbock, things didn't get much better to complete the Mountaineer's week in Texas as they took another dominating loss against Baylor, 79 -67.
After a pair of split free throws and slow offense to start the game, Erik Stevenson and Tre Mitchell got buckets, and then Emmitt Matthews hit a three for a 9-0 WVU run to jump out to a 9-3 lead.
West Virginia’s offense continued rolling with a three from Stevenson and alley-oop by James Okonkwo to take a 16-9 lead.
With eight minutes to go in the first, Baylor hit a three to take a 20-18 lead.
Two free throws at the six minute mark gave Baylor their largest lead of the night with the score at 24-20.
A huge three by Baylor with six remaining got the lead up to five for the Bears.
Seth Wilson hit a big three with three minutes remaining to end what was a large field goal drought for the Mountaineers, the score now at 27-31 in favor of Baylor.
The half ended with the Bears closing things out at 36-29. They were highly efficient, shooting 54.5% from three point and 48% from change.
One minute into the second and Baylor increased their lead to 11 with two three balls from LJ Cryer.
A Tre Mitchell three brought the Mountaineers within eight.
LJ Cryer hit his sixth of seven three point attempts to take Baylors lead back to double digits with 16 minutes remaining.
Yet another three by LJ Cryer extended the lead to 15. This three gave him 21 points of off three pointers, compared to West Virginia's 12.
At the midway point of the second half, WVU faced a 17 point deficit.
Joe Toussaint found his first field goal of the game on a three pointer to keep West Virginia's hopes alive.
With just under 5 minutes remaining however, the Mountaineers trailed by 14.
Three minutes later, they trailed by 19 after a few unproductive possessions and big plays by the Bears, including a four point play.
Baylor ending up coming away with the victory 79-67, making it the Bears fifth consecutive win against West Virginia.
Bob Huggins and his team will get their next chance to grab another win on Saturday, February 18th against Texas Tech.