Mountaineers Roll Over Austin Peay

Mountaineers exorcise its demons, upend Austin Peay

Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

After suffering its first loss of the season on Saturday against St. John's in Madison Square Garden, West Virginia (8-1) made light work of the visiting Austin Peay Governors (4-5) on Thursday night, cruising to a 84-53 victory.

Sophomore forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. led the way for the Mountaineers, quietly bagging a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds. Freshman forward and former McDonald's All-American Oscar Tshiebwe finished the game with his fourth double-double of the young season with 14 points and 10 boards after scoring only two points in the first half.

West Virginia put forth its best shooting performance of the year against the Governors, converting on over 50% of its attempts from the field. 

Twelve different Mountaineers scored for West Virginia, including eight points from forward Jermaine Haley, nine from Sean McNeil and seven apiece from guards Deuce McBride and Chase Harler. 

Derek Culver, who averaged 21.5 points and 11.5 rebounds against St. John's and Rhode Island, finished with only four points and five rebounds.

Led by junior guard Terry Taylor, the Ohio Valley Conference Freshman of the year in 2018, Austin Peay managed to keep within striking distance of the Mountaineers in the early parts of the first half, but West Virginia's dominance on the boards eventually became the Governors undoing.

The Mountaineers out-rebounded Austin Peay 50-28, including 19 offensive rebounds to the Governors' 10.     

Fueld by a 15-6 run in the first five minutes of the second half, West Virginia out-scored Austin Peay 46-32 in the final half en route to securing its largest lead and eventually its largest margin of victory of the season.

West Virginia will welcome Nicholls State to the WVU Colosseum on Saturday at 2:00 PM.