West Virginia beats UCF 77-62 on Senior Night
West Virginia closed the regular season schedule on a high note beating UCF 77-62 on Senior Night Friday inside Hope Coliseum.
The Mountaineers finish the regular season at 18-13, 9-9 in the Big 12 and now awaiting seeding for the Big 12 Tournament where they will play as the seventh or eighth seed.
It also gives West Virginia a season sweep over the Knights after winning the first meeting in Orlando 74-67 in February.
Guard Honor Huff scored 24 points, forward Brenen Lorient had 14 points, forward Chance Moore had 13 points, point guard Jasper Floyd scored 10 points and guard Treysen Eaglestaff had 9 points.
The Mountaineers would score on their first two possessions of the game but the Knights would as well to make the score 5-4 after the first two minutes of the game. The lead would sit at 10-6 at the first media timeout as the pace moved quickly between the two teams.
Huff would hit a three as the time expired on the shot clock to go ahead 13-8 but the Knights would end the spurt with a basket of their own. Huff would connect on another three to move the Mountaineers ahead 18-10 and force a timeout by UCF.
The run would extend to 12-2 to give West Virginia a 22-10 edge with 8:54 left in the first half as the Mountaineers were shooting 50-percent from the floor. After a three-point play, the Mountaineers led 25-12 but UCF would hit a three on the other end to make it a ten-point lead.
The lead would sit at 30-21 at the 2:30 mark of the first half and would take a 32-23 lead into the break as the Mountaineers didn’t make a field goal over the final 3:56 of the frame.
Huff would open the scoring on the runner after several empty possessions on both ends to open the second half and put the Mountaineers ahead 34-23. The Knights would bank a three to cut the edge down to 34-27 at the 17:44 mark but West Virginia would quickly answer to push it back out to nine.
UCF would connect on a three-point play to make it 36-30 but Eaglestaff would again answer to keep a comfortable distance with 16:27 remaining in the game. Fouls mounted early in the second half as the Mountaineers hit seven at the 15:44 mark putting UCF in the bonus for the rest of the half.
The Knights would trim the edge down to 41-36 at the 14-minute mark of the second half. After cutting it to four, Moore would score to give West Virginia a little breathing room. The Mountaineers would enter the bonus at the 11:44 mark as Huff would go to the line for three to put the score at 47-40.
Huff would hit another three to push the lead back out to 50-41 and Moore would record a block on the other end of the floor which led to him finishing with a foul to make it a 53-41 lead.
The Mountaineers would then stretch the edge to 59-44 forcing a timeout after Huff hit three more free throws and Lorient hit a three-pointer with 9:03 left.
The Knights would use a quick 4-0 run to trim the lead to 61-50 with just over five minutes remaining but Moore would answer the bell again with a layup.
West Virginia led 71-58 with 1:56 left and down the stretch the Mountaineers were able to increase the distance down the stretch to secure their 18th win of the season.
West Virginia will open the Big 12 Tournament Wednesday but in either the seventh or eighth seed which will be determined by the results of the Cincinnati and BYU games.
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