WVU overcomes early scare, rolls to win
March 19, 2010
BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP)—West Virginia overcame a miserable shooting start to avoidanother Big East flameout in the NCAA tournament.
Kevin Jones scored 13 of his 17 points in the first half to spark thesecond-seeded Mountaineers to a 77-50 win over No. 15 seed Morgan State inFriday’s first round. Despite the margin of victory, it wasn’t an easy start forthe Big East champs after West Virginia missed its first 11 shots and trailed10-0 before the game was 5 minutes old.
With leading scorer Da’Sean Butler handcuffed by a double-teaming Bearsdefense, Jones proved to be the difference. The sophomore forward went 4-for-4for 9 points during a decisive 21-4 run over a 6-minute stretch in the firsthalf. Devin Ebanks scored 16 and added 13 rebounds for the Mountaineers (28-6).
Reggie Holmes scored 12 points for Morgan State (27-10), the Mid-EasternAthletic Conference champ, which followed up its first tournament appearancelast year with another bid this season. Kevin Thompson had eight rebounds andthree blocks to go with nine points for the Bears.
The Mountaineers advanced to the second round of the East Regional onSunday. They’ll play the winner of the game between No. 7 seed Clemson and No.10 Missouri, who meet later Friday.
Despite the early scare, it proved to be a far better start to the day forthe Big East, after the conference’s teams struggled Thursday. Georgetown,Marquette and Notre Dame were all upset, while No. 2 seed Villanova survived amajor challenge, needing overtime to beat Robert Morris 73-70.
Morgan State appeared ready to follow the trend with its swarming defenseaimed at shutting down Butler, who finished with nine points. The senior guardentered the tournament leading the Mountaineers in scoring (17.4 points), andhis running jumper with 4 seconds left sealed a 60-58 win over Georgetown in theBig East title game Saturday.
With Butler missing his first four attempts, Morgan State got off to a 10-0lead after Holmes hit Thompson for an open layup with 15:36 left.
West Virginia trailed 12-3 before scoring its first field goal with 12:15left, when Devin Ebanks hit a hook shot from the paint. The basket sparked theMountaineers back into the game, as they hit eight of their next 11 attempts andtook the lead with 5:42 remaining in the half.
That’s when Joe Mazzulla went coast-to-coast following Troy Smith’s turnoverand was fouled while scoring on a layup. Mazzulla completed the three-point playto put West Virginia ahead 22-21, a lead the Mountaineers never relinquished.
Coach Bob Huggins was so incensed over his team’s poor start that he spentits first two timeouts yelling and motioning angrily at his players.
West Virginia didn’t let up after halftime, eventually building a 63-33 leadmidway through the second half. It was a far better start for West Virginiaafter it opened the tournament last year losing 68-60 in overtime to 11th-seededDayton.
The Bears’ shooting fizzled, and they finished the game 18-of-61.
Morgan State was without sophomore guard Ameer Ali, who served his one-gametournament suspension after he was ejected during the Bears’ first-round loss toOklahoma last year. Ali was tossed after flipping Oklahoma star Blake Griffin tothe court.
Bears forward Anthony Anderson—who was diagnosed with leukemia in October— hoped to attend the game but was too weak to travel to Buffalo. Undergoingchemotherapy treatment, Anderson was to watch from his hospital bed atBaltimore’s Johns Hopkins, Bears spokesman Leonard Haynes said.