West Virginia gets back on track, holds on to defeat Drexel 66-60
The West Virginia men’s basketball team got back on the right track after two-straight losses, holding on to defeat the Drexel Dragons in a hard-fought contest in Morgantown on Saturday, 66-60.
Despite being outrebounded 38 to 31, West Virginia shot 28-for-58 (48%) compared to the Dragons’ 26-for-62 (42%) mark to hold on at the end and grab its fourth win of the season.
West Virginia (4-5) started the game in the worst way possible, with a missed shot and two turnovers that led to two Drexel (5-5) baskets on the other end including a dunk that put it ahead 4-0 early on in the game.
The Mountaineers rallied back to tie the game up at six with four minutes elapsed because of four points scored by forward Quinn Slazinski in heavy traffic. The Dragons reclaimed the 10-6 lead however with two more interior shots from forward Amari Williams, marking his second and third baskets of the game.
After Drexel capped off this 9-0 run with a three-pointer by guard Justin Moore, WVU guard Seth Wilson exploded to break the four-minute scoring drought for his team, swishing back-to-back triples to make the score 18-14 with 12 minutes left in the first half.
West Virginia cut the deficit to three with a 5-2 run that included a three-point make by forward Pat Sumenick. Despite this, the Dragons still led 22-19 with eight minutes to go while committing four turnovers across this four-minute stretch.
After another three-minute field goal drought, Slazinski scored his first three-point shot of the game to knot the score up at 22. Then, Drexel immediately answered and went back ahead after three-straight layups by Moore on the other end, including one layup with a foul.
This made the score 28-24 in favor of the Dragons with three minutes remaining in the first period. West Virginia finished the first half with a slim 7-5 advantage in scoring including Wilson’s third-three point shot, but the Dragons answered the bell to maintain a 33-31 advantage into the break.
The Mountaineers ran in transition to start the second half, pushing ahead for four-straight points on the break led by a dunk for forward Josiah Harris. WVU center Jesse Edwards also helped the cause with four-straight points, including an emphatic dunk to take a 39-38 lead.
The Dragons kept the score close by grabbing points on five of their six opening second-half possessions.
However, forward Akok Akok led West Virginia to its largest lead of the day with 14 minutes to go. In only his second appearance of the season after he was sidelined by a medical emergency, the Georgetown transfer scored five-straight points in succession to give the Mountaineers a 48-42 lead, where he drained a three-pointer and dropped in a layup.
In just under a minute, Drexel drew the game even once again at 48 with two three-point makes over some lackadaisical WVU defense, one from Moore and the other from forward Mate Okros.
The go-ahead basket for WVU after the tie came from Wilson and also broke a four-minute scoring drought for the Mountaineers as they went on a 8-2 run. Across this stretch of the game, Drexel also failed to score for over five minutes until guard Luke House scored a floater with six minutes to go in the contest.
Leading 57-54 with six minutes left, forward Ofri Naveh dropped in a three-point shot in a crucial moment which sparked a 5-0 run paired with a layup by guard Kobe Johnson to give WVU an eight-point advantage at 62-54.
Moore scored two baskets and Slazinski made a layup as the game trailed under one minute to go, but Edwards got free on a press break and slammed home a two-handed dunk to give West Virginia a six-point lead at 66-60. After a flurry of fouls and a missed free throw, Edwards’ dunk proved to be the dagger as the Mountaineers held on to win over Drexel 66-60.
The Mountaineers get a full-week break after the win before they face off against Massachusetts at the Basketball Hall of Fame Classic on Dec. 16 in Springfield, Mass. Tipoff is set for 6:30 p.m. on ESPNU.
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