National Basketball Association
BOXSCORE | RECAP
Baylor 87, West Virginia 69
When: 12:00 PM ET, Saturday, February 7, 2015
Where: WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia
Officials: # Roger Ayers, # Rick Crawford, # Larry Spaulding
Attendance: 12783

No. 19 Baylor 87, No. 12 West Virginia 69: Rico Gathers had 17 points and 17 rebounds for his Big 12-leading 12th double-double of the season as the visiting Bears handled the Mountaineers.

Royce O’Neale added 15 points, six rebounds, four assists and a career-high four steals for Baylor (18-5, 6-4 Big 12). Taurean Prince contributed 15 points off the bench and Kenny Chery and Al Freeman finished with 11 points apiece for the Bears, who have their first three-game winning streak in conference play this season.

Devin Williams returned after missing Tuesday’s loss against No. 21 Oklahoma because of illness and the team’s second-leading scorer finished with a season-high 20 points and matched his career high with 15 rebounds for West Virginia (18-5, 6-4). Jevon Carter added 13 points off the bench and Daxter Miles Jr. finished with 10 points for the Mountaineers.

The Bears seized control early, using a massive 21-0 run after West Virginia had taken its last lead at 3-2 to speed out to a 23-3 advantage. Six different players scored for Baylor during the run, while West Virginia missed nine straight field goals and three consecutive free throws during the drought that lasted 7:10.

The Mountaineers went down by as much as 22 in the first half before rebounding to score the final five points to cut the deficit to 46-30 at the break, their largest halftime deficit this season. West Virginia collected two offensive rebounds on the opening possession of the second half and scored off the second to cut the deficit to 14, but that’s as close as the Mountaineers would get before Baylor went back up by 21 on O’Neale’s jumper with 15:45 left in the game.

GAME NOTEBOOK: Coming into the game, West Virginia’s opponents had more turnovers than field goals made against the Mountaineers, and the Bears finished with 28 fields goals and 19 turnovers. … The Bears came in as one of nine NCAA teams to hold all their opponents under 75 points this season. … Baylor improved to 18-2 this season when scoring at least 60 points.
Top Game Performances
 
Baylor   West Virginia
Rico Gathers 17 Scoring Devin Williams 20
Kenny Chery 4 Assists Juwan Staten 6
Rico Gathers 17 Rebounds Devin Williams 15
Rico Gathers 7 Free Throws Made Devin Williams 4
Royce O'Neale 4 Steals Jevon Carter 2
Johnathan Motley 3 Blocks Jonathan Holton 1
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Points FG% 3PM-3PA FTM-FTA Assists Rebounds Blocks Steals Turnovers
Baylor 87 54.9 6-15 25-35 12 41 7 11 19
West Virginia 69 36.4 6-23 15-25 15 32 1 11 16