No. 21 West Virginia Falls to Arizona

The Wildcats get their revenge in Morgantown and upset the Mountaineers

Arizona guard KJ Lewis / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on Si

Morgantown, WV – No. 21 West Virginia had its winning streak come to an end Tuesday night after Arizona shot 50.8% from the field and sophomore guard KJ Lewis came off the bench to lead all scorers with 21 points as the Wildcats (9-5, 3-0) upset the Mountaineers (11-3, 2-1), 75-56.

Arizona senior forward Anthony Dell’orso scored the game’s first bucket, but freshman guard Jonathan Powell answered with a three and senior guard Javon Small followed with a tough contested lay-in for a 5-2 lead.

Senior forward Trey Townsend erased the Mountaineer lead with a three and the Mountaineers never regained the lead in the first half.

Arizona steadily built a 10-point lead, 27-17, at the 7:37 mark of the first half after Lewis hit a mid-range jump shot.

Javon Small scored five straight to cut the lead in half but the Mountaineers were held scoreless for nearly five minutes while Arizona built its largest first half lead of 13 with 2:30 remaining in the half as the Wildcats held on to its double-digit advantage and took a 39-28 advantage into halftime.

The Wildcats held a 14-point lead at the 15:32 mark of the second half before Small hit a three and sophomore guard Sencire Harris hit back-to-back threes for a 9-0 run and the cut the deficit to five and forced Arizona head coach Tommy Lloyd to take a timeout.

Arizona responded out of the break with a 14-2 run, with Lewis’ recording seven points during the stretch, as the Wildcats took a 17-point lead midway through the second half.

West Virginia never recovered could not get back within single digits as the Wildcats cruised to a 75-56 victory.