Roughly two hours before their game against North Carolina Central, West Virginia announced Tucker DeVries would be out indefinitely.
That would mean West Virginia would need added production from their bench, and they got that on Tuesday, scoring 51 bench points as they dispatched the Eagles, 79-45.
West Virginia’s offense was choppy early and unsurprisingly so. DeVries was WVU’s second-leading scorer, averaging 14.9 points per game. Amani Hansberry knocked down a 3-pointer in the opening minute to put the Mountaineers on the board, but they went cold from there. WVU’s next made basket came at the 14:55 mark of the first half as Toby Okani made a layup. Okani’s layup was part of a 7-0 run for West Virginia, putting them in front by eight.
Jonathan Powell was one of those key contributors off the bench for West Virginia, making an immediate impact. Powell knocked down two triples on consecutive possessions as WVU’s 1-for-4 start from three quickly turned to a 4-for-7 mark from downtown.
WVU was in front by 15 with 9:31 to play in the first half before their offense once again hit a rut.
They didn’t score for over five minutes, as they missed nine shots in a row. NC Central cut WVU’s lead to eight before Joe Yesufu stepped up.
Yesufu came into the game with 12 combined points scored all season. In the final 3:47, he scored 11 points, as WVU went into halftime with a 36-18 lead.
West Virginia shot 45 percent from the field in the first half, going 7-for-17 from three. They also turned the ball over once in the final 17 minutes of the first half after turning it over three times in the first three minutes.
In the second half, WVU’s offense would once again score in spurts, especially early on.
WVU scored two points in the first 2:45 of the first half before they went on a 9-0 run across a 1:16 span. It started with a Hansberry layup followed by a 3-pointer from Powell. Powell then had another look from beyond the arc, passing it up for an easy layup from Sencire Harris, forcing an NC Central timeout with 16:25 to play and WVU leading, 45-21.
The Mountaineers went on another 7-0 run with Powell scoring four points during the run as they took a 27-point lead with 6:37 to play.
WVU had NUMBER guys reach double figures in scoring, led by Powell, who had a season-high 17 points in the win. Powell shot 6-for-14 from the field, knocking down four 3-pointers.
Jake Auer added nine points in the final 2:35, connecting on three triples.
As a team, WVU shot 41 percent from the field, going 15-for-39 from three.
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