MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — For the second straight game, West Virginia’s offense was clicking, and this time, the Mountaineers showed up on defense as well.
For the second time in four days, WVU’s offense shot at least 48 percent from the field, while their defense held UCF to 33 percent shooting, as the Mountaineers beat the Knights 77-67 to break their four-game losing streak.
West Virginia came out of the gates on fire from the field. The Mountaineers made 12 of their first 16 shots from the field and took care of the ball at the same time. After they turned the ball over 11 times in the first meeting, they turned it over only three times in the first half.
West Virginia was in full control early, leading 24-16, with 14 points coming in the paint.
It was the opposite sort of start on offense for UCF, who struggled to string possessions together early. The Knights made only seven of their first 16 shots from the field, including going 2-for-10 to start the game from three.
The tide turned for UCF late in the first half, as they were able to find their stroke from three. The Knights closed the final 4:07 of the half on a 10-5 run, with nine of those points coming from three. UCF made three of their final six three-pointers, cutting into WVU’s lead as the Mountaineers led 37-30 at halftime.
Another component of WVU’s loss to UCF in their first meeting was the play of RaeQuan Battle. Battle scored only five points in the first meeting, and he surpassed that total within the first six minutes of Tuesday night’s game. Battle led WVU at halftime with 10 points on 5-for-7 shooting.
Battle was the focal point for WVU’s offense to start the second half after his hot start to the first.
Battle got blocked on WVU’s first possession down but answered with a three-pointer on the very next trip. Battle finished the game with 24 points, securing his third game in a row with at least 21 points scored.
WVU’s seven-point halftime lead was quickly up to double-digits, where it stayed for about the first 10 minutes of the half.
Josiah Harris cashed in on two three-pointers, one from the top of the key after Akok Akok got a tough offensive rebound kicked it to Noah Farrakhan who was falling out of bounds, who then found Harris. The second three-pointer from Harris came from the corner with 10:57 to play, and put the Mountaineers in front, 56-45.
The next bucket for West Virginia gave them their largest lead of the night as defense turned into offense. Jesse Edwards met UCF’s Omar Payne at the rim for a block, and then Kobe Johnson finished for a layup on the other end, forcing a UCF timeout with WVU by 13 with 8:49 to play.
UCF was able to make a run to get things close again as they turned up the pressure and WVU couldn’t handle it.
After they scored four consecutive points, including a pair of free throws, Farrakhan got trapped in the corner with the ball for the Mountaineers, and threw an errant pass which got picked up by UCF before they slammed home a dunk and cut the deficit to seven.
Darius Johnson later hit a three-pointer to cut WVU’s lead to six with 6:11 to play, but the Mountaineers backed it up with Battle hitting a three-pointer, before him and Edwards combined to make four free throws as West Virginia took control of the game on a 7-0 run.
West Virginia would be in command from that point on, with their lead staying at 10 or more for the remainder of the game.
Johnson finished with a career-high 29 points for the Knights, while they went 9-for-38 from three.
The Mountaineers were led by Battle and Edwards, as Edwards had a double-double, with 15 points and 10 rebounds. The Mountaineers shot 48 percent from the field, and went 7-for-14 from three.
