WVU holds on for 57-54 win over Baylor
No. 2 West Virginia (15-1, 4-0) continued its hot streak by defeating Baylor (11-5, 1-3) by a score of 57-54 inside the Coliseum Tuesday night, extending its win streak to 15 games.
Baylor’s length and size disrupted West Virginia’s offense for most of the night, but the Mountaineers returned the favor by forcing 21 Baylor turnovers, leading to 20 West Virginia points. Overall, West Virginia shot 31 percent from the field, but were out rebounded by Baylor 44-36.
Senior guard Daxter Miles Jr. and sophomore forward Lamont West led West Virginia with 12 points each.
For Baylor, the Bears were led by senior Manu Lecomte, who scored 13 points.
Baylor got off to a hot start and led 5-0 one minute into the game thanks to a layup from Mark Vital and a three-pointer from King McClure. West Virginia cut its deficit to three points with a layup from sophomore Wesley Harris and a jumper from West, but Manu Lecomte would bury back-to-back three-pointers to extend Baylor’s lead to 13-4.
West Virginia’s rough start continued as the Mountaineers started off shooting 3-of-15 from the field while freshman Teddy Allen, who has served as the team’s spark off the bench, started off 0-of-3 from the field and went back to the bench after picking up two early fouls.
Despite their rough start, West Virginia got a spark from senior guard Jevon Carter, who ended Baylor’s 6-0 run with a three-pointer. Sophomore forward Sagaba Konate, who recorded two early blocks, hit two free throws to cut Baylor’s lead to 13-9 with 11:55 to go in the first half.
The two teams would trade baskets, but Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. would then score seven straight points for the Bears to extend their lead to 24-17. A three-pointer from West narrowed Baylor’s lead, but a pair of free throws from Tristan Clark gave Baylor a 26-20 lead at the 5:24 mark.West Virginia then responded with a 6-0 run to tie the game at 26 all.
Lecomte would hit his third three-pointer of the game to give the lead back to Baylor, but West Virginia’s James “Beetle” Bolden would hit a three-pointer of his own to send the game into a 29-29 tie after one half.
Miles was West Virginia’s leading scorer in the first half with seven points on 2-of-6 shooting. The Mountaineers finished the first half shooting 30 percent from the field to Baylor’s 46 percent and also forced 11 Baylor turnovers which led to 11 points for West Virginia, but the Bears still held a 12-4 advantage in the paint and 20-18 advantage on the boards.
The two teams opened the second half with back-forth scoring, but West Virginia would earn some momentum with a steal from Harler that led to a three-pointer from Bolden, giving the Mountaineers a 46-42 lead with 10:11 left to play.
Both teams would trade baskets again, but then a three-pointer from Baylor’s Nuni Omot cut West Virginia’s lead to 48-47 with 8:39 to go. A strong defensive effort from both teams saw a short scoring drought for both teams, but then Baylor managed to tie the game at 49 with a pair of free throws from Clark.
Konate would then break the tie with a layup, giving West Virginia a 51-49 lead with 3:28 left. Lecomte then hit a pair of free throws to tie the game back up at 51.
Miles would come up with a key steal and save near the end of the contest, leading to a three-pointer from Carter to give West Virginia a 54-51 lead with 57.5 seconds left. A late effort for Baylor to tie the game fell short as the Mountaineers iced the game with a key rebound from Konate and free throws from Carter.
The Mountaineers will hit the road this weekend for a Big 12 showdown against No. 8 Texas Tech on Saturday for a 2 p.m. tipoff.
