West Virginia 74, Eastern Kentucky 67: Gary Browne scored 17 points off the bench as the host Mountaineers held on after squandering a huge first-half lead.
Juwan Staten matched Browne’s 17 points and tallied six assists while Aaric Murray collected 12 rebounds for West Virginia (7-5), which has won 46 of its last 47 non-conference home games.
Glenn Cosey hit five 3-pointers and finished with a game-high 21 points for Eastern Kentucky (10-3), which shot 11-of-26 beyond the arc.
The Colonels fell behind by as many as 16 points late in the first half and shot a woeful 27.6 percent from the field. However, Eastern Kentucky nailed eight 3-pointers in the second half as it continued to chip away at the deficit until taking a short-lived 63-61 advantage with 4:21 remaining.
The Mountaineers held the Colonels to a single field goal over the remainder of the game and pulled away in the final minutes by going 9-for-10 from the foul line, allowing them to remain undefeated at home.
GAME NOTEBOOK: Eastern Kentucky was outrebounded 38-24 – the fourth straight game it has been on the wrong end of a double-digit deficit on the boards. … West Virginia enjoyed a huge advantage from the free throw line, converting 32 of 39 foul shots while Eastern Kentucky shot just 6 of 11. … The Colonels have dropped three of four after beginning the season 9-0.
Eastern Kentucky | West Virginia | |
Glenn Cosey 21 | Scoring | Gary Browne 17 |
Mike DiNunno 4 | Assists | Juwan Staten 6 |
Eric Stutz 8 | Rebounds | Aaric Murray 12 |
Eric Stutz 3 | Free Throws Made | Gary Browne 10 |
Mike DiNunno 1 | Steals | Gary Browne 2 |
Marcus Lewis 1 | Blocks | Dominique Rutledge 3 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Eastern Kentucky | 67 | 44.6 | 11-26 | 6-11 | 15 | 24 | 2 | 4 | 13 |
West Virginia | 74 | 40.8 | 2-12 | 32-39 | 14 | 38 | 6 | 3 | 13 |