The West Virginia Mountaineers (3-0) beat Mercer, 75-61, and it was not pretty. They had a 31-28 lead at halftime, before winning the second half by 11 points. Finley Bizjack led the team with 15 points and six rebounds. Miles Sadler added 12 points and six assists in 28 minutes. The Mountaineers only shot 26% from three, but Mercer struggled even more at 26% on 28 attempts. Read more: WVU moves to 3-0 with hard-fought victory over Mercer.
Slow start for Mountaineers
Sadler made a three-pointer to start the game, but it did not carry over into much of the game. Mercer missed five consecutive shots while grabbing three offensive rebounds in that span. Mouhamed Sylla made it 5-0 off an assist from Sadler.
Karon Boyd finally got Mercer on the board with a jump shot following a bad pass turnover by Seydou Traore. Joson Sanon made a three-pointer to make it 8-2 with 14:44 remaining in the half. Brady Shoulders answered with a layup.
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Bizjack was fouled on a three-pointer and made all three attempts, which was the story of the night. The Mountaineers attempted 11 free throws in the first half, making seven of them. It made up for their poor three-point shooting. They only made four-of-eighteen threes in the first half. Somehow, Mercer shot even worse from behind the arc. They made two-of-fifteen (13%).
The game got close with under six minutes remaining. Shoulders made a three-pointer to cut it to a six-point lead for WVU. That spurred a 9-0 run for the Bears. That run tied the game at 26-26, but the Mountaineers never trailed in this game.
Sylla responded with a dunk following an offensive rebound. Sawyer Mayhugh made two free throws to even the game at 28, but that was as close as the Bears got to taking the lead.
Bizjack ended the half with a three-pointer, which Sanon assisted. Lorient got a steal with 18 seconds left to set up the possession. WVU led 31-28 at halftime.
WVU won it at the line
West Virginia pulled away to start the second half. Sadler once again scored the first basket of the half, with a jump shot in the paint. That started an 8-2 run for the Mountaineers, which gave them a 39-30 lead.
Then they started to get to the line. Lorient made two to extend the lead to 10, and Traore added a couple after getting fouled on his putback attempt. The Mountaineers made 15-of-19 free throws in the second half, while Mercer only made three on four attempts.
WVU cut down on long-range shots, only attempting nine threes in the second half, and focused on getting to the paint. They scored 20 points in the paint in the half, and 32 overall.
West Virginia went on a 9-0 run around the midway point of the half. After the run, it was 57-39 with 9:18 remaining. Mercer never got closer than 13 points, and WVU finished the game with success from the line.
Javan Buchanan was a big part of that down the stretch. He finished with 11 points off the bench, making seven-of-eight free throws in 10 minutes of action.
The Mountaineers play Auburn next in the Players Era 8 at the Michelob ULTRA Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada. Tip-off is set for 11:59 p.m. EST on Tuesday, November 17.
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