Things looked bleak for West Virginia after a loss to Radford on Wednesday, but the Mountaineers bounced back to defeat Toledo, 91-81 on Saturday inside the WVU Coliseum.
West Virginia needed to bounce back and in the first half, they put the ball in the hands of RaeQuan Battle and let him take over. The Mountaineers got out to a strong start in the first half where they led by as many as 18, with Battle scoring 22 points in the first half alone, to go along with four steals.
What also plagued WVU in their loss to Radford was their three-point shooting. WVU went 4 for 21 from deep against the Highlanders on Wednesday, but would surpass that mark in the first half alone.
West Virginia went 5 for 14 from three-point range in the first half, as Battle drained both of his attempts in the opening 20 minutes.
One of those there-pointers came as Battle scored seven straight points for the Mountaineers, helping them open up a 20-6 lead over the Rockets. The second came on another seven-point scoring stretch from Battle, this time putting WVU in front 33-16.
Battle ended the afternoon with 29 points, reaching the 29-point mark in each of his first two games as a Mountaineer.
In the second half, as Battle cooled down, plenty of other Mountaineers stepped up. Kerr Kriisa finished with a double-double, scoring 12 points and 10 assists, and is the first Mountaineers to get a double-double in assists since Jordan McCabe in 2019.
West Virginia led for the entirety of the second half, but things would get tight for the home team. Toledo cut WVU’s lead to as few as two points, and they did not trail by more than seven from the 15:35 mark until the 4:43 mark of the second half.
Down the stretch though, West Virginia covered on offense and defense, with Josiah Harris and Noah Farrakhan leading the way on offense, while Akok Akok protected the rim on the back end with two blocks in the second half.
Ra’Heim Morris was the top scorer for Toledo as he scored 21 points before fouling out. Over half of the Rockets’ points came from their bench (41), as they had five players in double figures for scoring.
West Virginia had four players score at least 12 points. Along with Battle and Kriisa, Farrakhan scored 12 points, and Quinn Slazinski scored 14. Akok had nine points and 12 rebounds, while Harris stepped up late, as he scored all eight of his points in the second half.
This is West Virginia’s first win since defeating Drexel on Dec. 9, and they close out non-conference play against Ohio State in Cleveland on Dec. 30.
