West Virginia easily banded together and beat UCharleston (DII) 94-61 in a preseason exhibition on Friday.
WVU led the entire game and forced 22 turnovers en route to the victory. Tucker DeVries was West Virginia’s leading scorer with 18 points, shooting 7-of-13 from the field, including 1-of-4 from three. He also picked up four rebounds, two rebounds, two steals and a block.
The Mountaineers had little offensive struggles early on. They led 9-3 by the U16 timeout and were shooting 4-of-7. They were able to create opportunities by forcing four turnovers in just over the first four minutes.
Coming out of the timeout they picked up right where they left off. They continued a 10-0 run before a Golden Eagle midrange jumper ended it.
As West Virginia continued to build their lead, they balanced their offensive attack. They were able to score in the paint and behind the arc.
In the first half, they scored 22 points in the paint and shot 7-of-16 from behind the arc, leading Charleston 50-29. Javon Small was the highest scorer in the first 20 minutes with 11 points; Tucker DeVries had nine and Amani Hansberry had seven.
The Golden Eagles struggled to get the ball down in the first half, shooting 34.5% from the field. They also committed 10 turnovers, which led to 19 Mountaineer points.
Coming out of the locker room at halftime, West Virginia picked up right where they left off but allowed Charleston to start to work out of a deficit. Before the U16 media timeout, Small was going up for a layup attempt and was fouled taking a hard hit on the floor. Coming out of the timeout, Small did not return with Sencire Harris taking his free throw shots.
WVU had trouble knocking down the deep ball in the second half starting the half 0-of-9 from three, before true freshman Jonathan Powell finally got one. More players got minutes as WVU led by over 30 and scored 90+ points.
In the end, the Mountaineers had four players finish with 10+ points. DeVries had 18, Harris, Powell and Small all had 11.
West Virginia had the advantage in almost every facet of the game except for second-half shooting from behind the arc.
WVU will officially open their season when they host Robert Morris on Nov. 4.
