West Virginia drops home game to Utah 61-56
West Virginia couldn’t overcome a slow start and complete the comeback falling to Utah 61-56 Wednesday night inside Hope Coliseum.
The Mountaineers fell to 16-10 overall and 7-6 in the Big 12 and suffered their first quadrant three loss of the season in the process. West Virginia trailed by as many as 15 but rallied to cut it to 53-51 late in the second half, but was unable to complete the comeback.
Forward Chance Moore scored 12 points, guard Honor Huff had 12 points, forward Brenen Lorient scored 10 points, guard Treysen Eaglestaff had 9 points and guard Jasper Floyd scored 6 points.
The Utes scored on their opening four possessions to take an early 9-0 lead which led to an early timeout by head coach Ross Hodge. Out of that, Huff would get the Mountaineers on the board with three-ball. But the Utes would then reel off four-straight to take an early 13-3 edge.
The lead would build to 18-3 as the Mountaineers struggled with just one basket and four turnovers through the first six minutes of the game.
West Virginia would score again at the 11:36 mark on a free throw by Eaglestaff but still trailed 18-4 but that would spark a mini-run to cut the deficit to 18-8 approaching the 10-minute mark. The Utes would end that with a three-pointer to move ahead 21-8 as the Mountaineers continued to struggle from the floor.
The edge would sit at 21-13 with five minutes left in the half but Harlan Obioha would pick up his third foul on a three to push the lead back out to 24-13. Huff would hit a three on a fast break to make it 24-16 but again Utah would respond to push it back out to 29-16.
The Utes would hold a 31-21 edge with under a minute left before the break and that would be the score at half.
Utah would open the second half with a three-pointer and a jumper to push the edge out to 36-21 but the Mountaineers would whittle it back down to 38-26. The Utes would continue to respond and keep the Mountaineers deficit at 45-30 with 14:35 remaining in the game.
Moore would score four straight to cut it to 45-34 with 12:12 remaining and then Floyd would score on a layup to get the game under 10 for the first time in the second half forcing a timeout.
The lead would sit at 47-42 after a Moore layup and a Lorient put back but Utah would end the run. However, Eaglestaff would answer back to cut the lead down to 49-44 at the under eight minute timeout.
Utah would push the edge back out to 53-44 before Lorient would score followed by a Huff three and Eaglestaff layup to get it down to 53-51 with 3:44 left. Utah would respond to push it back out to 57-51 with 1:02 remaining in the game as the Mountaineers squandered several scoring opportunities.
Huff would hit a three to make it 57-54 and after a missed foul shot had an opportunity to tie the game but Huff’s shot was blocked. The Utes would then make two free throws to make it 59-54 and would be able to put the game away down the stretch.
The Mountaineers will hit the road next to take on TCU Saturday at 5 p.m.
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