The West Virginia basketball team took care of Bethune-Cookman 84-61 inside the Coliseum Saturday evening.
Senior guard Javon Small led scorers with 27 points, 6 rebounds and 6 assists, while Amani Hansberry finished with 16 points and 5 rebounds, Jonathan Powell had 14 points and 5 rebounds and Sencire Harris with 12 points and 7 rebounds.
Hansberry kicked off the scoring on a well designed roll to the rim and after a Small three on the next possession the Mountaineers raced out to an early 5-0 lead.That edge would swell to 12-3 at the first media timeout.
The Wildcats cut into that edge but Joseph Yesufu and Powell, in his first start, hit back-to-back three-balls to push the edge out to 18-10 at the 12 minute mark. Powell had 8 points in the first 10 minutes of the game.
Another Small three-ball pushed the edge to 28-12 at the under eight media timeout as the Mountaineers were shooting 61-percent from the floor and held the Wildcats to just 25-percent.
The Wildcats would then go on their own surge to trim the lead down to 37-29 after a 12-0 run but Hansberry would end it on a turnaround in the paint with just over a minute remaining in the half. The Mountaineers would take a 41-30 edge into the locker room.
Bethune-Cookman outscored West Virginia 9-4 in the first four minutes of the second half to edge into the lead even more at 45-39 but a Powell three would provide more cushion. From that point, the Mountaineers would extend the lead back out to 56-42 at the 12 minute mark as the offense was able to score in transition.
The lead would remain at 63-50 at the under eight minute timeout as the Mountaineers were able to keep Bethune-Cookman at a distance but couldn't quite pull away. Still, West Virginia was able to keep things from getting too interesting down the stretch by pulling away to record their fourth straight win.
West Virginia moves to 8-2 on the season with the next contest set for 2 p.m. Dec. 22 against Mercyhurst inside the Coliseum.
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