WVU men's hoops bounces back to beat Jacksonville State, 70-57
West Virginia men’s hoops bounced back from a tough loss against Monmouth by picking up a win over Jacksonville State at home on Tuesday, defeating the Gamecocks with an efficient 51% shooting night that led to a solid 70-57 victory.
Point guard Kobe Johnson scored on West Virginia’s first possession with a mid-range two, but the Gamecocks went ahead quickly with a three-pointer and a layup from guard KyKy Tandy, making the score 5-2 early on.
After another make from beyond the arc for Jacksonville State (1-2), Johnson drained his own three-pointer and then scored on the fastbreak to put WVU (2-1) ahead by one point for its first lead. Johnson finished the first half with 11 points and also completed the contest with a single-game career-high in points, scoring a total of 19.
Each team traded three pointers halfway through the first period, but two-straight treys by Gamecocks’ forward Marcellus Brigham Jr. pushed them ahead 16-12.
After a layup from Johnson, forward Pat Sumenick then made the go-ahead three-pointer for WVU, his first of the season, from the top of the key to jump ahead 18-17.
The Mountaineers went on to score six unanswered points with under eight minutes to go before Jacksonville State guard Quincy Clark broke the drought, as West Virtginia led 24-21. Edwards then threw down an emphatic putback dunk to make the lead five points.
Edwards continued his attack on the rack with the lead and under four minutes to go, catching an alley-oop from Johnson along with the foul. Immediately after, the Mountaineers capitalized off a costly turnover and quickly turned it into points as forward Ofri Naveh ran down the court and slammed home a dunk.
With West Virginia ahead 32-24, Clark hit a three-pointer for Jacksonville State but Edwards got off his third slam of the night deep inside the paint on the very next possession.
Leading into the halftime break, WVU forwards Quinn Slazinski and Josiah Harris capped off a 14-3 run to finish the half strong for the Mountaineers, as they each swished a three-pointer in the final minute to go ahead by double-digits, 40-27.
Out of the break and into the second period, West Virginia started strong with a Slazinski’s four points and a floater from Johnson, starting the period on a 7-2 run with a 47-29 lead.
Slazinski took over as the leading scorer for the Mountaineers with 15 points only five minutes into the second half, after he made another shot from beyond the arc. Despite two layups from the Gamecocks’ guard Caleb Johnson during this stretch, West Virginia held a 50-33 lead.
Jacksonville State broke its three-minute scoring drought halfway through the second period by putting up a 10-2 run in the following three minutes. Tandy was the one to hit a three-pointer, bringing his squad to an 11-point deficit.
Two free throws jump started a run for the Mountaineers in response, when Slazinski added a jumper from three-point range and Johnson made a layup to create a 7-0 run.
However, Tandy scored an impressive eight-straight points in just three minutes as he led the Gamecocks on a 10-0 run, shrinking the WVU lead to only 61-53 with under four minutes in the game.
West Virginia took control of the game in the final minutes by establishing another double-digit lead, finishing off Jacksonville State 70-57 for its second win of the season.
West Virginia men’s basketball heads to Florida for its next set of games, beginning the Fort Myers Tip-Off tournament against the SMU Mustangs on Monday. Tipoff is set for 8:30 p.m. with the television broadcast available on FS1.
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