West Virginia knocks off Knights 77-67
The West Virginia basketball team enacted some revenge by knocking off UCF 77-67 Tuesday night inside the Coliseum.
With the performance the Mountaineers were able to avenge a 72-59 loss Jan. 23 in Orlando and snap a four-game losing streak in the process. The Mountaineers also were able to push their record to 9-17 overall and 4-9 in the Big 12.
West Virginia was led in scoring by guard RaeQuan Battle with 24 points, while center Jesse Edwards chipped in with 15 points and 10 rebounds and forward Quinn Slazinski scored 14. Point guard Kerr Kriisa also put together a full stat line with 7 points, 5 rebounds and 7 assists. As a team the Mountaineers shot 48-percent from the field.
Battle started the scoring with a jumper from the elbow but the Knights would answer on the other end before a three-ball by Slazinski and a dunk by Edwards would give the Mountaineers a 7-2 cushion through the first two minutes of play.
After another Battle jumper and Slazinski three-ball the Mountaineers would push the edge out to 16-6 after the first six minutes of the game as the home team came out of the gates hot shooting 77-percent from the floor.
West Virginia would hold a 22-11 through the first ten minutes as the Mountaineers had only two turnovers during that stretch playing under control. And West Virginia would be able to hold the Knights at a distance with the score at 32-19 with 4:20 left in the half.
The Knights would cut into the lead, but West Virginia still held a 37-30 edge as the two teams headed into the halftime break.
UCF would open the scoring in the second half, but Battle would again nail the first basket on a three-pointer to put the lead to 40-32. After the first five minutes the Mountaineers only lost a point off that advantage with the score at 46-39.
The two teams would exchange minor runs, but the Mountaineers would still be able to keep the Knights at a distance mid-way through the half leading 56-45.
After pushing the edge to 13, the Knights would use a 6-0 run in a little over a minute to essentially cut the lead in half at 58-51 with 7:10 left to play. But every time that the Knights could cut the score down, the Mountaineers would answer with a big shot.
With 3:35 left, West Virginia would take a timeout still holding a sizeable 69-59 edge and from there the Mountaineers would be able to salt the game away from the line.
The Mountaineers will next travel to Iowa State for a 2 p.m. matchup this Saturday. West Virginia will be looking to record their first win away from home this season after previously going 0-10 to this point in the schedule.
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