National Basketball Association
West Virginia 84, Texas A&M CC 64
When: 2:00 PM ET, Saturday, December 17, 2011
Where: WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia
Officials:
# Earl Robinson, # Mike Terry, # Ron Tyburski
Attendance:
7226
By SportsDirect Inc.
Kevin Jones tallied 22 points, and West Virginia produced a big second-half-opening run for the second straight game to top visiting Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 84-64 Saturday afternoon.
A week after burying Miami with a 25-3 burst to start the second half, the Mountaineers delivered a 22-9 knockout stretch to deflate the upset-minded Islanders and give coach Bob Huggins his 698th victory.
Jones finished 11-of-16 from the field and had eight rebounds for West Virginia (7-2), which got points from eight freshmen – including major contributions in the first half.
Chris Hawkins-Mast had 22 points and Terence Jones 20 to pace Texas A&M-CC (1-7).
The Islanders entered the game among the bottom 11 Division I teams in scoring, field-goal percentage, foul shooting and assists – and had a quick turnaround after losing at home against South Alabama 66-64 on Thursday night.
But the Southland Conference member grabbed an 8-2 lead Saturday and hung with the Big East's Mountaineers for much of the first half.
West Virginia took control with a 17-6 spurt in which all but three points came from freshmen. But the Mountaineers led only 32-28 at halftime, with the teams combining to make one field goal in the last four minutes.
Texas A&M-CC's drought continued into the second half, though, as it netted just three field goals over a span of 11 minutes bridging the halves.
The game was part of campus-site play in the 11th Annual Continental Tire Las Vegas Classic. Both have campus games Monday in the Classic before traveling to Las Vegas's Orleans Arena for Thursday/Friday competition that also includes No. 7 Baylor, Missouri State, Tennessee Tech, Bethune-Cookman, Kennesaw State and Saint Mary's.
Top Game Performances
Texas A&M CC |
|
West Virginia |
Chris Hawkins-Mast 22 |
Scoring |
Kevin Jones 22 |
Jonathan Jordan 6 |
Assists |
Darryl Bryant 5 |
Myron Dempsey 8 |
Rebounds |
Kevin Jones 8 |
Chris Hawkins-Mast 8 |
Free Throws Made |
Deniz Kilicli 5 |
Hameed Ali 3 |
Steals |
Jabarie Hinds 3 |
Ted Wang 2 |
Blocks |
Kevin Noreen 2 |
Team Stats Summary
Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
Texas A&M CC
|
64 |
42.9 |
7-14 |
15-24 |
13 |
25 |
2 |
9 |
21 |
West Virginia
|
84 |
54.5 |
8-20 |
16-28 |
23 |
33 |
5 |
11 |
15 |