West Virginia’s Javon Small burned his former team with 24 points and 11 rebounds as the Mountaineers subdued visiting Oklahoma State 69-50 on Saturday in Morgantown, W.Va.
Jonathan Powell matched his season high with 17 points as West Virginia (11-2, 2-0 Big 12) led wire-to-wire for its seventh straight victory.
Small, the Big 12’s top scorer this season after leading the Cowboys in scoring last season, posted 18 points in the first half to help propel the Mountaineers to a 27-point lead.
Marchelus Avery paced Oklahoma State (8-5, 0-2) with 15 points and five rebounds. Abou Ousmane added 14 points and 11 rebounds.
Oklahoma State was plagued by 33.3 percent shooting from the floor and 3-of-21 marksmanship (14.3 percent) from 3-point range. The Cowboys also committed 17 turnovers and had just five assists on 18 made baskets.
West Virginia established its dominance with a 22-1 run midway through the first half. Small scored 11 during the spree, hitting a pair of 3-pointers and adding a breakaway slam, which he set up with a steal.
Powell also hit a pair of triples in the run and Sencire Harris added another after he had missed his first 28 attempts from beyond the arc this season.
When Harris finished off the run with a free throw, it gave the Mountaineers a 32-7 cushion with 6:06 left in the half.
Avery responded by scoring seven straight points for the Cowboys. Later in the half, Powell and Harris drained 3-pointers 36 seconds apart for the Mountaineers en route to a 46-19 lead at the break.
In the second half, West Virginia pushed its lead to 28 on four occasions before Oklahoma made a late run, which whittled the deficit to 13.
The Mountaineers’ third-leading scorer and top rebounder, Amani Hansberry, returned from an ankle injury, which sidelined him for West Virginia’s New Year’s Eve takedown of then-No. 7 Kansas.
Hansberry finished with six points, three rebounds and three assists, playing 13 minutes off the bench.
– Field Level Media
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