No. 17 West Virginia (12-2, 1-1) got back on the winning track with a 55-41 road win over Oklahoma State (9-5, 0-2) Monday night.

Jermaine Haley scored the game’s first points with a layup which gave the Mountaineers an early 2-0 lead. But Oklahoma State tied it up soon after with a dunk from Cameron McGriff.

The two teams struggled offensively early on and held each other scoreless for just over two minutes until a free throw from Derek Culver gave West Virginia a one-point lead.

After exchanging baskets, the Mountaineers took a 10-5 lead over the Cowboys thanks to five straight points from freshman Miles McBride. This was followed by a layup from Isaac Likekele which narrowed the West Virginia lead down to three points.

Both teams continued to struggle on the offensive end of the floor with the teams being held scoreless for over two minutes again until Lindy Waters made 1-of-2 free throws at the line.

A three-point play from McGriff then gave then Cowboys an 11-10 lead just under the 10-minute mark in the first half. This was part of a 6-0 run for Oklahoma State that ended after a layup from Chase Harler gave the Mountaineers a one-point lead.

After a jumper from Waters, West Virginia went on a 6-0 run to take a five-point lead and after the two teams traded baskets, the Mountaineers had a 23-17 advantage over the Cowboys with 3:39 left until halftime.

West Virginia would then get a layup from Derek Culver and after a pair of free throws from McGriff, McBride hit a three-pointer in the closing seconds of the first half to give the Mountaineers a 28-19 halftime lead.

Halftime Stats:

Culver scored the first points of the second half to extend West Virginia’s lead to 11 points. He later made 1-of-2 free throws after Jonathan Laurent drained a pair from the line for Oklahoma State.

The free throw from Culver began a 7-0 run for the Mountaineers that ended with a Jordan McCabe three-pointer and extended the West Virginia lead to 16 points at 37-21. Oklahoma State then answered back with back-to-back baskets, but the Mountaineers would add a couple more baskets to make it a 16-point advantage again.

A 6-0 run from Oklahoma State and three-pointer from Waters later on lessened the Cowboys’ deficit to nine points at 43-34 with 8:19 to go.

Four straight free throws from West Virginia extended the West Virginia lead to 13 points and two more from Harler after a layup from Avery Anderson made it a 13-point lead for the Mountaineers again. A three-pointer from Brandon Knapper at the 5:01 mark then gave West Virginia a 16-point lead.

From there, the Mountaineers were able to hold off the Cowboys for their first Big 12 Conference win of the season.

West Virginia will return to Morgantown to face No. 22 Texas Tech Saturday at 6 p.m. ET.

Final Stats:

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