West Virginia Dominates Both Ends of the Floor to Bury Iona
Morgantown, WV – West Virginia guard Javon Small led a scorers with 23 points and senior forward Tucker DeVries chipped in 13 points to lead the Mountaineers (3-1) to a 86-43 win over the Iona Gaels (1-4) Wednesday night.
West Virginia captured an early lead and Iona was able to keep pace through the first four and a half minutes of action with the Mountaineers leading by four, but a 7-0 WVU run, capped off with a three by freshman guard Jonathan Powell and forced Iona head coach to take a timeout. Powell extended the run out of the break with a three to out the Mountaineers up 21-7 at the 13:18 mark of the first half.
Iona cut the West Virginia lead back to 10 near the midway point of the first half, but sophomore Amani Hansberry sparked a 12-0 run as the Mountaineers took full control of the game, holding a 22-point advantage with 6:55 to play in the half.
West Virgina went into halftime with a 45-22 lead. Javon Small led all scorers with 12 points and Powell’s three three-pointers propelled the freshman to 11 first half points.
After the holding Iona to 8-28 from the field in the first half, the Mountaineers continued their defense prowess in the second half, allowing two field goals in the first five minutes of second half action and building 55-26 lead.
West Virginia put the final touches on the game after the midway point of the second half, producing 14-1 run for a 41-point lead with 4:32 left to play in the game as the Mountaineers coasted to a 86-43 victory.