The West Virginia men’s basketball team won their second-straight game to open up the 2024-2025 season and Darian DeVries era on Friday, defeating UMass 75-69.
The Mountaineers got a lead early and ultimately never gave it up despite second-half struggles. They shot just 36.8% from the field in the contest but forced 15 turnovers, which led to 22 points.
UMass struck first with a layup after securing an offensive rebound. West Virginia answered with a midrange jumper by Toby Okani.
Following the opening score, the Mountaineers went into a scoring drought lasting over three minutes. However, nearing the U16 media timeout, they scored two in 20 seconds, tying the game at six. Coming out of the timeout, Javon Small put WVU up by one with a free throw from an and-one that provoked the timeout.
West Virginia maintained that lead, having a 15-2 run that lasted 3:34. By the U12 timeout they led 17-10.
The Minutemen had trouble getting shots to fall. Nearing the midway mark of the first half, West Virginia went on a small 8-0 run, with UMass making just one field goal in their last 10 attempts at that point.
UMass soon picked it up and had a run of their own, 6-0 as they cut into the deficit. With just under eight minutes left in the first half, they trailed by just seven points, 27-20.
After two back-to-back Mountaineer scores, the Colesium was lively as West Virginia looked to support their lead before heading to the locker room. They went on an 8-0 run in the last two minutes of the first half and led 45-28 after the first half.
West Virginia’s scoring in the first half was evenly dispersed, but freshman forward Jonathan Powell led the way with 10 points. The Mountaineers’ main issue in the first half was fouls; they fouled nine times, and four of their players had two fouls.
UMass started the second half on the right track. They were out-scoring WVU early in the second half, but the Mountaineers continued to knock down threes.
The Minutemen began chipping away at West Virginia’s lead, finding success from the field. They cut the Mountaineer lead to 11,58-47 as they eyed a comeback.
West Virginia went into a scoring drought that lasted over three minutes, allowing UMass to come within 10 of its lead. As WVU continued to struggle to notch a field goal, UMass cut the lead to eight.
With just around five minutes to play, both teams struggled offensively. They shot a combined two-for-20 from the field over their last 20 attempts.
With three and a half minutes left to play, WVU led by 10 as they looked to hold onto their lead and win back-to-back games to start the season. UMass lowered the deficit to seven before Amani Hansberry made a layup to put WVU back up by nine.
With a minute left to play, UMass only trailed by seven. They had no other choice but to send Tucker DeVries to the line. He knocked both attempts down and put West Virginia back up by nine.
UMass made it interesting late with two late threes and a field goal that made WVU’s lead six. However, it was to no avail as the Mountaineers hung on and won 75-69, after leading by 17 at halftime.
DeVries led WVU in scoring for the second-straight game with 17 points. Three other Mountaineers finished with double-figure points: Hansberry with 16, Javon Small with 12 and Powell with 10.
The Mountaineers will travel to Pittsburgh next Friday for the Backyard Brawl as they look to make it three straight to begin their season.
