Jonathan Powell came off the bench and scored a career-high 17 points to lead West Virginia to a 79-45 win over North Carolina Central on Tuesday in Blacksburg, W.Va.
Second-leading scorer Tucker DeVries didn’t play after the Mountaineers announced earlier Tuesday that he will be out indefinitely with an upper-body injury. Reserve Joseph Yesufu scored 14 points on 4-of-7 shooting from behind the arc and Javon Small added 12 points.
The Mountaineers (7-2) held a 51-32 advantage in bench points and held the Eagles to 33.3 percent shooting from the field and 14.3 percent from 3-point range. West Virginia shot 41.2 percent from the field and 38.5 percent from 3-point range.
Isaac Parson led NCCU with 16 points. The Eagles (4-8) entered the matchup second nationally with 18.9 turnovers forced per game but had only four in the first half. The Mountaineers forced 14 turnovers overall, which led to 19 points.
DeVries’ replacement, Eduardo Andre (three points, eight rebounds, four blocks, two steals), made his presence felt on the first Mountaineers’ possession when the first of three offensive rebounds led to an Amani Hansberry 3-pointer.
The Mountaineers took a 16-6 lead on Powell’s 3-pointer with 12:24 left in the half and appeared to be in control.
But Parson started a 7-0 run that cut the deficit to 23-15.
A quick scoring blitz that allowed the Mountaineers to pull away. Yesufu ended WVU’s drought with a 3-pointer. After a stop, Yesufu connected on a catch-and-shoot, shot-clock-beating trey. A Small steal and layup was followed by an Andre steal and Yesufu’s floate, capping a 10-0 run and giving WVU a 33-15 lead.
Parson quelled the run with the Eagles first 3-pointer of the night with 59 seconds left in the first half. Yesufu hit his third triple in forur attempts as the Mountaineers doubled up the Eagles 36-18 at halftime.
West Virginia pushed the lead over 20 at 43-21 when Powell nailed a 3 with 16:52 left in the second half.
–Field Level Media
