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Though it wasn't easy, West Virginia picked up their second win of the season in an 86-73 victory over James Madison in front of 8,101 fans at the Charleston Civic Center.
Bob Huggins mentioned after the Northern Kentucky game that they didn't run any plays so James Madison wouldn't have anything on tape. Well, the first play of tonight's game was a well-executed set that resulted in Esa Ahmad finding Jevon Carter for the alley-oop slam:
West Virginia started the game on a 10-3 run, but James Madison did not let them pull away. Though the lead reached double-digits at times in the first half, it mostly stayed in the 6-8 range. A Jaysean Paige layup in the final minute gave the Mountaineers a 48-38 halftime lead.
JMU was able to keep the game within reach for most of the second half, but just like last season WVU was again able to wear down a lesser opponent. A Daxter Miles layup with 5:42 to go started a 15-5 run to put the Mountaineers up 19 at 85-66. The rest of the game was a formality at that point and the Mountaineers picked up the 13 point win.
Devin Williams recorded his second consecutive double-double to lead West Virginia with 19 points and 12 rebounds. Jevon Carter also scored 19 on 6-11 shooting and added 3 assists and 2 steals. Jonathan Holton picked up another double-double as well with 12 points and 12 boards. Daxter Miles was the only other Mountaineer in double figures, with 11 on 4-7 shooting.
James Madison was led by Shakir Brown, who played a great game and scored 21 points to go with 7 rebounds. That kid looked like a Power 5 talent. Three of JMU's four double-digit scorers came off the bench.
#PressVirginia forced three five second calls on the Dukes and 19 turnovers overall.
The Mountaineers won the rebounding margin 42-31, shot 43.9% from the field, and 73.3% from the line on 22-30 shooting.
James Madison dealt with foul trouble all evening. The team's leading scorer, Ron Curry, picked up his fourth barely one minute into the second half.
The Dukes are a solid team. They were picked to finish second in the CAA Conference this season and have their hopes set on an NCAA bid.
At halftime of tonight's game, the ROOT Sports crew showed Mountaineer players' best attempts at a Bob Huggins impression. None of them were particularly good, but my favorite was definitely Teyvon Myers:
The Mountaineers are back in action on Friday, November 20th when they take on Stetson. The game tips at 7:00 PM and will again be televised by ROOT Sports.