West Virginia beaten by BYU 86-73
West Virginia attempted to mount a second half comeback but fell short losing to BYU 86-73 Saturday evening inside the Coliseum.
The loss snaps a three-game home winning streak for the Mountaineers and puts their overall mark at 8-14 and 3-6 in the Big 12 Conference. West Virginia made several attempts to cut into a halftime deficit, but the Cougars made shots down the stretch.
Point guard Kerr Kriisa scored 23 points, while center Jesse Edwards chipped in 16 points and 7 rebounds and guard RaeQuan Battle scored 14.
Edwards opened the scoring on a lob from Kriisa to carry over the connection that the two displayed Wednesday night against Cincinnati. The senior big would score three of the first four baskets for the Mountaineers and had an assist on the other to put West Virginia out front 8-6 at the first media timeout of the half.
The two teams would then see-saw the lead with the Mountaineers holding a 17-16 edge with 9:57 remaining in the first half. BYU would use the three-ball to recapture the advantage and was able to stretch it out to 24-19 with under eight minutes to play.
West Virginia would then battle back to tie the game up at 25 and the two would continue to play a closely contested match up until back-to-back three-balls by the Cougars would give them their biggest advantage at 38-29 with 54.5 left in the half.
That's where the score would sit heading into halftime with BYU using an 8-0 run to seize some momentum heading into the break. Overall, the Cougars used a 13-4 run when Edwards went to the bench with his second foul.
BYU would extend the lead to 43-30 over the first two minutes of the second half as the Mountaineers struggled to find any consistency on the offensive end. And the Cougars would keep West Virginia at a distance leading 53-39 with 14:23 left. Over that stretch BYU hit 3-6 from beyond the arc to keep the advantage.
The lead would eventually swell to 17-points, but a 8-0 run by the Mountaineers cut the deficit to 58-49 with 11:15 remaining in the game.
BYU would be able to keep the lead around 10-points, until the Mountaineers cut it to 67-61 with 6:27 left with West Virginia making four of five field goals during that span. The Cougars would stretch it back out to nine after a banked three as the shot clock expired, but a quick 4-0 run would put the score at 70-65 with 5:26 to play.
But again, BYU would answer from three on two consecutive trips to keep the Mountaineers at a distance at 76-67 with just over four minutes on the clock.
West Virginia would continue to battle down the stretch but not get over the hump as the Cougars made timely shots and were able to chew away at the clock.
The Mountaineers now will have a week off before traveling to Texas for the second meeting with the Longhorns this season. The game will tip at 3 p.m. Saturday.
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