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West Virginia uses second-half heat to scorch Norse

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — No. 11 West Virginia didn’t have a dominant start, but the finish sure looked familiar.

Tarik Phillip scored 16 points and Teyvon Myers added 13 as the Mountaineers generated some second-half separation to swamp Northern Kentucky 92-61.

The game was tied 24-all before West Virginia (11-1) took control with a 17-2 run that included 10 unanswered points in the second half.

BOX SCORE: West Virginia 92, Northern Kentucky 61

Myers, three days after playing a season-low seven minutes against Radford, joined Philip in providing a bench boost that wore down the Norse (9-4).

“That was the talk at halftime, that we needed to attack them in the traps and take away their vision,” Myers said. “They were really poised, but we just had to be more aggressive. We don’t care how poised you are.”

Esa Ahmad produced 12 points and guard Jevon Carter delivered another all-around performance with 11 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals as West Virginia ran its home record to 9-0, none of those closer than 27 points.

Carson Williams scored 12 and Lavone Holland added 11 points for Northern Kentucky, which committed 25 turnovers and saw its six-game winning streak snapped.

West Virginia shot 52 percent overall and 62 percent in the second half, winning its seventh consecutive game and enjoying a 31-9 edge in points off turnovers.

After sizing up a closely guarded 3 that widened the gap to 63-43, Phillip enjoyed a happy exchange with a man in the front row.

“One of the fans said ‘Oh yeah, that’s a facial!’ So I started laughing, shot him a look and said ‘You know it,’ It was fun,” Phillip said

Northern Kentucky made its first five shots to lead 12-4, giving West Virginia its largest deficit since a Nov. 25 loss to Temple.

“I think they were a lot better than what our guys thought they were,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “They’re going to win games.”

But in a dramatic cool-off, the Norse sank their first two 3-pointers before missing their final 14.

Sophomore forward Drew McDonald, NKU’s top scorer at 17.3 points per game, was shut out for only the second second time in 43 career games. He finished 0-of-4 shooting with seven turnovers.

Myers douses negativity

Saying “negativity only brings failure,” Myers gave himself an attitude adjustment after being preoccupied in the previous game.

“In that last game I was being negative about some things, which is not myself, so I came in here today I was going go stay locked in for all 40,” he said.

“I watched the film of that game and I caught myself lacking on the clapping. Somebody had an and-one and I didn’t clap because I was in my own head about something else. I promised myself that will be the last time that ever happens because that was last year’s Teyvon. That Teyvon is out the door.”

Watkins’ family affair

Huggins gave Brandon Watkins his first start of the season on a day his grandfather was in attendance. Watkins’ uncle is Warren Baker, the WVU Hall-of-Famer.

“To be able to see your son come in here and be one of the great players of all-time and then to see your grandson start and run out on that carpet is a pretty neat thing,” Huggins said. “That’s one reason he started; the other reason is Brandon has played good.”

Macon helped off

Hobbled by a late-game collision, Elijah Macon clutched at his right knee and needed help getting to the bench. The crowd roared when fellow 6-foot-9 Nathan Adrian toted his teammate to the bench.

Adrian finished with nine points, eight rebounds, three steals and three assists. Myers joked that he deserved a fourth assist for carrying Macon, whose injury did not appear serious.

“I don’t think it’s bad, just sore,” Huggins said. “But I’m not a doctor either.”

Notes, tidbits, etc.

The announced crowd of 10,197 was the Mountaineers second-largest in nine home games this season. … The Norse entered Friday 12th-ranked nationally in rebounding margin and out-boarded WVU 39-34. Huggins didn’t sound alarmed: “If we were better free-throw shooters we wouldn’t get out rebounded. We missed 12 free throws, so that’s 12 rebounds.”

Up next

West Virginia, off until Dec. 30 when it opens Big 12 play at Oklahoma State, plays its final nonconference game against Texas A&M on Jan. 28 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge.





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