West Virginia Cruises in Season Opener

The Mountaineers shoot 55.0% from the field to topple the Robert Morris Colonials in the season opener.

West Virginia University forward Tucker DeVries. / Christopher Hall - West Virginia on SI

Morgantown, WV - West Virginia forward Tucker DeVries led all scorers with 18 points as the Mountaineers (1-0) handled the Robert Morris Colonials (0-1) Monday night 87-59.

West Virginia forward Tucker DeVries hit a pair of threes, added a steal, leading to a dunk, for the early 8-0 advantage and forcing Robert Morris head coach Andy Toole to take a timeout. The Mountaineers extended their run to 21-0 at the 14:42 mark of the first half before junior guard D.J. Smith hit jumper to put the Colonials on the board.

West Virginia freshman guard KJ Tenner extended the Mountaineers lead to 28 after back-to-back threes with just under 12 minutes remaining in the first half.

Robert Morris began chipping away at the WVU lead, dwindling it down to 16 after Smith buried a three but WVU quickly responded with an 8-0 run behind threes from Tenner and freshman guard Jonathan Powell for a 44-17 with 4:05 left in the first half.

The Mountaineers took a 46-26 lead into halftime, shooting 53.1% (17-32) from the field, including 9-21 from three-point range.

West Virginia senior guard Toby Okani started the scoring for the Mountaineers in the second half with a fadeaway baseline jumper.

Robert Morris senior forward Ismael Plett answered with a bucket and the foul but WVU responded with a 8-0 run with senior guard Javon Small hitting consecutive threes for six of his eight second half points, and finishing the night with 15 points, extending the Mountaineer lead 56-30.

The Mountaineers maintained their 20-plus advantage throughout the second half, leading by as many as 28. Along with Small, freshman guard Jonathan Powell put up eight second half points to finish with 11 points and Okani produced 13 points on the night as the Mountaineers coasted to a 87-59 victory.