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The Mountaineers took a three point lead into the locker room then dialed up the defensive pressure and Press Virginia was off to the races to start the second half pushing the lead to 16. During that stretch, Baylor was held to only 3 field goals in the first 10 minutes of the second half, but the last 2 of those were among the 5 straight threes that the Bears hit to cut the lead to 7 points. Baylor would get as close as 5 before WVU would stretch the lead out for the final margin.
ICYMI: Esa Ahmad throws down a monster slam! Mountaineers up by 12. #HailWV https://t.co/MUq4klpTf5
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) March 5, 2016
Jaysean Paige finished with 14 points to lead the Mountaineers. The other Mountaineers in double figures were Tarik Phillip with 11 and Daxter Miles had 10. Devin Williams continued to struggle offensively, managing only 6 points for the game. He did manage 11 rebounds though.
The full box score can be seen HERE.
Briefly
- WVU had 9 turnovers in the first game and finished with 13 for the game
- Baylor was forced into 16 turnovers for the game
- Scoring to start the game was sparse as Baylor took a 2-0 lead into the first media timeout (under 16:00 minute mark)
- WVU's bench was responsible for 24 of the team's 30 points in the first half
WVU will be the #2 seed in the 2016 Big 12 Men's Basketball Tournament. They will face the winner of the Texas Tech/TCU game (Wednesday, March 9th, 9 pm ET) on Thursday at 7 pm ET on ESPNU. You can see the full Big 12 Tournament schedule/bracket HERE.