West Virginia Falls to Baylor 83-78

The West Virginia Mountaineers losing streak extends to four following tough loss to Baylor

Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers (10-6, 0-4) dropped their fourth straight after the Baylor Bears (11-5, 1-3) held on for the 83-78 win Wednesday night. Baylor freshman guard Keyonte George went for a career-high 32 points to carry the Bears to victory. 

Former West Virginia forward Jalen Bridges scored the game's first bucket, but the Mountaineers answered on the ensuing possession when forward Tre Mitchell found a cutting Erik Stevenson open under the basket for the lay-in. 

Baylor followed scoring eight answered points before forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. drove the baseline in the middle of the lane for a contested layup to spark a 5-0 spurt to get within three 10-7 at the 12:46 mark of the first half. 

West Virginia was 0-10 from the three-point line as Baylor built its lead back up to seven. Then, after a Mountaineer bucket, Matthews buried a three from the left wing and WVU was back within two, 25-23, with 3:30 remaining in the first half. 

The Bears took a 33-27 lead into halftime led by freshman guard Keyonte Johnson's 15 first half points on 5-8 shooting from the field, including 3-5 from three. 

The Mountaineers came out of the second half hot, hitting 4-f from behind the arc but the Bears hit their first two three and were holding on to a three-point advantage. 

West Virginia grabbed its first lead at the 11:41 mark of the second half on a pair of free throws from Kedrian Johnson. Then, moments later, Seth Wilson buried a three from the top of the key to extend the Mountaineer lead to four, 57-53, with 8:31 left to play. 

Jalen Bridges tied the game at 60 with a pair of free throws with just over six minutes remaining.

Baylor would go up two before Erik Steven reclaimed the lead with a three, but the Bears went on a 7-0 run to go up six with 1:55 left in the game. 

Seth Wilson cut it to three with 18.9 seconds remaining to get within three and split a pair of free throws before Joe Toussaint drove the length of the floor to cut the deficit to two with 11 seconds on the clock. 

West Virginia had a chance to tie the game after Flagler split a pair of free throws and only trailed three but Toussaint missed on the attempt as the Bears hold on 83-78.

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