WVU defeats Mount Saint Marys 76-58 in season opener
After an uncharacteristically poor season from Bob Huggins and his team last year, the Mountaineers put on a show in their season opener, surely re-igniting faith into the ever-present West Virginia crowd.
WVU officially kicked things off Sunday night against the fellow Mountaineers, Mount Saint Marys.
Kedrian Johnson was called for an offensive foul on the first possession of the game, but West Virginia quickly got to work, getting their first points of the game off of an offensive rebound.
Two consecutive threes put Mount Saint Marys up 8-6. This would be the only lead all night for them, lasting all of 27 seconds. MSM scored just 18 points over the initial 20 minute period, shooting an abysmal 21% from the field, compared to West Virginia's 42%. Not one player made over one shot for Mount Saint Marys. The team went on a six minute scoring drought, thanks to the overwhelming WVU defense, but scored with just under two minutes left in the first. They would hit a three just before half to make the score 30-18 in West Virginia's favor entering the second.
Seth Wilson led the WVU scoring with seven, and Mohammed Wague went 3/3 from the field with six of his own. Jimmy Bell Jr. led the half for both teams with six rebounds. WVU had an unfortunate 7:11 assist to turnover ratio, but had six steals on the half. A surprise appearance from Tre Mitchell, who'd been dealing with an injury, was an exciting sight for West Virginia.
Mount Saint Marys started the second half with a layup, but a score and a three from Kedrian Johnson prompted MSM to call a quick timeout.
In a wild sequence causing roars from the Mountaineer crowd, Emmitt Matthews scored nine consecutive points and James Okonkwo had two blocks.
A somewhat confusing double technical paused the game for a significant amount of time mid-way through the half, one called on WVU's Erik Stevenson and the other on the MSM bench. Tre Mitchell brought some energy back into the stadium however, scoring and then taking a charge on the defensive end.
Erik Stevenson hit a jumper, threw a lob for an assist to Emmitt Matthews, and then got a steal and assist to Joe Toussaint all in less than a minute, to finish things off strong for West Virginia.
Mount Saint Mary's Jalen Benjamin had some impressive shotmaking on the night, adding 18 points, but it wouldn't be enough to lead his squad to victory.
WVU came out with a 76-58 win, with Emmitt Matthews leading the scoring for the team with 15. Tre Mitchell added 13 of his own and Erik Stevenson had 10.
The Mountaineers will play their first road game on Friday, Nov 11, facing Pitt in their next matchup.