WVU blows past Iowa State, 90-75

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West Virginia (12-18, 4-13) came up victorious during its home finale Wednesday night with a 90-75 win over Iowa State (20-10, 9-8).

A 54-point first half helped West Virginia pick up its fourth conference victory of the season despite Iowa State outscoring the Mountaineers, 42-36, during the second half.

Junior Jermaine Haley led West Virginia with a career-high 28 points and Lindell Wigginton scored 17 for the Cyclones.

For the second straight game, Jordan McCabe made a three-pointer for the first points of the contest to give West Virginia an early 3-0 lead.

Iowa State answered right back with a three-pointer of its own from Talen Horton-Tucker to even things up. The two teams exchanged baskets over the next few minutes and another three-pointer from McCabe would give the Mountaineers a 14-10 lead at the 15:21 mark.

An 8-2 run from the Cyclones followed and gave Iowa State an 18-16 lead over the Mountaineers. Haley ended Iowa State’s run with a layup which tied the game at 18-all with 12:51 left until halftime.

After a layup from Terrence Lewis gave Iowa State a two-point lead, West Virginia stormed back with a 12-0 run to gain a 10-point lead at 30-20.

Weiler-Babb ended West Virginia’s run with a layup, bringing Iowa State to within eight points of the Mountaineers, but West Virginia picked up the pace again by going on a 7-0 run which included McCabe’s third three-pointer of the night.

This run extended West Virginia’s lead to 37-22 and the Mountaineers didn’t slow down for the rest of the first half.

Three’s from Brandon Knapper, Chase Harler and Haley near the end of the first half would give West Virginia a 54-33 lead over the Cyclones after the game’s first 20 minutes.

West Virginia ended the first half shooting 57 percent from the field and 44 percent from three-point range as Haley led all first half all scoring with 20 points. Iowa State finished the first half shooting 41 percent from the field led by Lewis’s seven points.

A three-pointer from Horton-Tucker opened the second half scoring and after double technical fouls were called on Iowa State's Michael Jacobson and West Virginia’s Derek Culver later on with 17:34 remaining, the Mountaineers’ lead was cut down to 17 points.

Wigginton then cut Iowa State’s lead down to 14 points with a three-pointer that was answered by a three-pointer from Lamont West and layup from Haley, extending West Virginia’s lead to 65-46 with 16:33 left to play.

Iowa State would again inch closer to the Mountaineers later on and cut their lead down to 14 points once again with a three-pointer from Weiler-Babb.

The Cyclones kept crawling back and trailed by 10 points after layups from Wigginton and Zoran Talley, but McCabe’s fifth three-pointer of the night would extend West Virginia’s lead to 75-62 with 7:58 to go.

A pair of free throws from Lamont West made it a 15-point game in favor of West Virginia which was followed by a 5-2 run from Iowa State that made it a 12-point game again. A jumper from West later on extended West Virginia’s lead to 81-67 and the junior added three consecutive free throws to make it a 17-point lead for the Mountaineers with 3:19 left.

From there, West Virginia was able to hold off Iowa State to earn its 12th win of the season.

The Mountaineers will close out the regular season on the road this Saturday against Oklahoma State. Saturday’s game is set for a 4 p.m. tip-off.

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