PORTLAND, Ore. – At halftime on Sunday night, West Virginia led Florida by eight points.
Within the first four minutes of the second half, the Mountaineers led by 19, as they eventually beat the Gators 84-55 in the fifth-place game of the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament in Portland, Oregon.
West Virginia led by as many as 16 in the first half, but a 12-4 Florida run would cut the halftime lead to 41-33 for the Mountaineers.
Then with 14:35 to play in the second half, a dunk from West Virginia’s Mohamed Wague capped off a 16-0 run as the Mountaineer offense exploded early in the second half.
Emmitt Matthews opened the half with a three-pointer on West Virginia’s first possession. Florida would get a layup of their own, before West Virginia went on their run which featured two three-pointers from Erik Stevenson, back-to-back baskets made by Matthews and jumpers made by Joe Toussaint and Tre Mitchell.
West Virginia would finish the night shooting 43.3% from the field, including going 5/10 from three-point range in the second half, as well as going 15/30 from the field in the second half.
The Mountaineers seemed to have their offense clicking from the beginning. West Virginia held a 16-point lead with 6:41 to play in the first half. The Gators would get back into the game as Kyle Lofton scored the final seven points for the Gators in the first half.
Lofton would score 17 points, the only Gator to reach double-digits.
Florida’s Colin Castleton came into the game averaging 20.7 points per game, but the Mountaineers would hold him to only one point in the first half. In total, Castleton would go 1 for 6 from the field, while scoring three points and grabbing five rebounds.
The Mountaineers had three players score at least 13 points. Matthews finished with 13, Stevenson with 15, while Mitchell added 17.
West Virginia forced 14 Florida turnovers leading to 20 points for the Mountaineers.
Oregon Wrap Up
The Mountaineers lost by 12 while dealing with sickness to Purdue in their first game. Purdue then beat No. 6 Gonzaga and No. 8 Duke, by 18 and 19 points respectively. The Mountaineers certainly played Purdue closer than any other team the Boilermakers faced this weekend, a good sign of things to come.
Pat Suemnick gets his moment
West Virginia’s Pat Suemnick has had a slow start to the season. The JUCO transfer was dealing with an injury and has been behind in catching up to game speed. At the end of the game, he connected on a three-pointer and then had a block on defense on the following possession. Suemnick is a guy to keep an eye on as this team develops.
What’s Next?
The Mountaineers will get a little bit of a break as their next game is Saturday on the road at Xavier. Xavier beat Florida by seven points on Thursday, and they lost to No. 6 Gonzaga 88-84 today.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
