West Virginia snaps six-game streak over Pittsburgh, falls 80-63
In the 190th edition of the Backyard Brawl in Morgantown at the WVU Coliseum on Wednesday, the Pittsburgh Panthers shot the lights out to give the West Virginia men’s basketball team its second-straight loss as the Mountaineers were defeated by their arch-rival, 80-63.
For comparison, the Mountaineers shot above their season average at 22-for-53 (42%) in the crushing loss, but the Panthers went an impressive 29-for-62 (47%) from the field and 16-for-38 (42%) from beyond the arc to grab the road win.
Pittsburgh’s (6-3) first basket in the game came from guard Ishmael Leggett, but a technical foul was called after the make and two Kobe Johnson free throws tied the contest at two. The first WVU (RECORD) field goal came with two minutes off the clock by forward Ofri Naveh.
West Virginia (3-5) went ahead 8-2 after center Jesse Edwards slammed home a posterizing dunk on an alley-oop pass from Johnson to ignite the offense. After this play, the Panthers answered on the other end with two straight three-pointers from leading scoring forward Blake Hinson to make the score 10-8.
WVU forward Quinn Slazinski went on his run halfway through the first half, scoring seven points in just as many minutes against Pittsburgh to take the Mountaineers to a 15-11 advantage.
The Panthers didn’t go away however, as two twin brother forwards, Guillermo Diaz Graham and Jorge Diaz Graham, combined for their squads’ next eight points which included two three-pointers for the former.
The Mountaineers still led 17-16 until Pittsburgh strung together a 6-0 run in the matter of 45 seconds with two three-pointers, including a four-point play by guard Carlton Carrington. West Virginia continued to leave Hinson open and he converted another trey with six minutes in the first period and the Panthers led 26-20.
Carrington took over with another three-pointer to cap off a 5-0 run that gave Pittsburgh the biggest lead of the night for either team, at seven points with a 31-24 advantage.
Slazinski battled for seven straight points to fight back against the run and WVU only trailed by one after five consecutive makes at the free throw line as well. This carried over into the halftime break and West Virginia, led by the fifth-year’s 16 first-half points, took the momentum into the break trailing 36-35.
Edwards slammed home another dunk to open the scoring for WVU in the second period but Hinson swished a three pointer, his team’s 10th of the contest, to answer back on Pittsburgh’s second possession of the period. This was only one basket in an impressive 29-point night for the Panthers’ senior, who dropped in a career-high nine three-pointers.
Another Edwards alley-oop and dunk was the go-ahead score for the Mountaineers at 41-39 until Hinson drained yet another three pointer for Pittsburgh’s 12th make beyond the arc. This lunged the Panthers back ahead 45-43 with 15 minutes left.
This was the spark plug for a 12-5 Pittsburgh run, after three seemingly easy layups inside followed by another Hinson basket from three-point range. Leading 54-48, the Panthers extended that advantage to double-digits at 58-48 after two made free throws and a short fadeaway jumper by Carrington.
Pittsburgh continued to score and caught fire in the second half to grab the momentum, scoring nine straight points to build on its lead at 69-52. This included a mid-range and three-point jumper by Carrington, who scored 14 points in the contest, alongside a pick and roll dunk from Guillermo Diaz Graham.
Edwards broke the run and the three-minute West Virginia scoring drought with a layup and seven minutes remaining, but after an array of missed shots for WVU, a Panthers’ 5-0 run made the contest out of hand with three minutes to go at 74-54.
West Virginia marginally outscored the Panthers 9-6 in the final three minutes but it wasn’t enough to cut the deficit, as the Mountaineers’ six-game win streak over their rival Pittsburgh was snapped, 80-63.
After the second-straight loss in Morgantown, West Virginia finishes up a four-game homestand on Saturday with a matchup against the Drexel Dragons. Tipoff is set for 4 p.m. on ESPN+.
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