The absence of Sean McNeil proved to be anything but a crutch Saturday, with West Virginia rolling over Radford 67-51.

Missing a team's second-leading scorer is often a tough pill to swallow, but the Mountaineers took it in stride. They opened the game strong offensively, speeding past the Highlanders and entering halftime with a 42-24 lead.

Leading-scorer Taz Sherman picked up much of the slack early, scoring 21 points in the first half alone.

Coming out for the second half, West Virginia continued to roll. The Mountaineers would go up 24 points in the first three minutes, resulting in a Radford timeout.

But, as Bob Huggins would make substitutions further down his bench, the team's lead began to slip somewhat. A lead that was once nearing 30 dropped down to below 20 — Radford barely hanging on.

The Highlanders' efforts were too little too late, however, as West Virginia was able to coast to the easy win.

Sherman led the Mountaineers in scoring, finishing with 27 points — one shy of his career high.

Kobe Johnson, who started in McNeil's place, ended the day with two points.

Freshman forward James Okonkwo checked in with eight minutes left in the second half, meaning that every player listed on the Mountaineers' roster has played in at least one game.

West Virginia (7-1) will host UCONN (7-1) on Wednesday in the Big East-Big 12 Battle. The 7 p.m. tipoff will be televised on ESPN2.

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