West Virginia tops No. 2 Ohio State
PSU rolls; Dukes drop 2nd in row
West Virginia freshman guard Miles McBride remains an avid Ohio State football fan. The Cincinnati native doesn’t share the same love for its basketball team.
McBride scored a seasonhigh 21 points, including six in the final 2:22, as No. 22 West Virginia (11-1) rallied for a 67-59 victory against No. 2 Ohio State (11-2) in the Cleveland Classic Sunday at Rocket Mortgage FieldHouse.
The Mountaineers, who trailed by nine late in the first half, went ahead for good, 55-54, on a push-shot by Derek Culver with 3:31 left. McBride followed with two free throws and an 18-foot jumper that he punctuated with a playful shrug.
“I knew if we got this win, our fan base was going to go crazy,” he said. “Both teams have prideful fan bases, but I wanted our fans to have a little edge. I had family and friends in the crowd, and it felt like a big tournament game. This whole day was great. There’s nothing like it.”
Kaleb Wesson had 17 points and nine rebounds for the Buckeyes, who were held to a season low in points and committed season highs of 22 turnovers and 25 fouls. They made 5 of 24 shots in the second half while being outscored 36-22.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins is 3-0 against Ohio State since taking over the program in 2007 and recorded his 19th win against a top 10 team with the Mountaineers.
“I wasn’t very happy with them at halftime because I didn’t think we played as hard as they did and we got in foul trouble,” Huggins said. “Then they came out in the second half and played as well as we’ve played defensively all year.”
The Buckeyes were 3-0 against ranked teams but couldn’t contain McBride or senior guard Chase Harler down the stretch. Harler, who finished with 10 points, delivered the dagger with a steal and score that gave West Virginia its largest lead, 65-57.
Freshman forward Oscar Tshiebwe — the Mountaineers’ leading scorer — had no points and four fouls in eight minutes. Duane Washington Jr. scored 12 points and Luther Muhammad and C.J. Walker had 10 apiece for Ohio State.
“We did some things that we have to do better, but give them credit for being a really good team,” Buckeyes coach Chris Holtmann said. “It was back and forth, and came down to whoever could make enough plays there late.”
Other men’s games
Penn State 90, Cornell 59: Mike Watkins capped off the non-conference schedule with another highlight-worthy dunk — a powerful first-half alley-oop — and had 19 points and 10 rebounds as the 20th-ranked Nittany Lions (11-2) routed Cornell (1-10) at Bryce Jordan Center in University Park, Pa.
“He definitely is enjoying playing the game of basketball,” Penn State coach Patrick Chambers said. “He’s in a good space day to day.”
So are the Nittany Lions, who ended their non-conference schedule with their 13th consecutive home win.
Lamar Stevens added 19 points, Myreon Jones scored 18 and Izaiah Brockington had 11 for the Nittany Lions, who led for all but 2:01 after Watkins and Stevens took over early.
Watkins scored 16 of his points in the opening 20 minutes, and Stevens helped Penn State take control midway through the first half.
“They’re enormous and athletic,” Cornell coach Brian Earl said. “We just don’t have the horses to match Watkins and Stevens.”
Jimmy Boeheim scored 17 points and Terrance McBride added 12 for the Big Red, which lost its 10th game in a row.
Marshall 83, Duquesne 61: Jarrod West hit four 3pointers and scored a season-high 22 points as Marshall (6-7) easily defeated Duquesne (10-2) in the Cleveland Classic. Darius George added a career-high 19 points for Marshall and Taevion Kinsey had 13.
Marcus Weathers scored a career-high 25 points for the Dukes, who lost their second neutral site game in a row after getting off to the second-best start in school history. Michael Hughes added 15 points.
Behind George, the Thundering Herd, who shot 51.5% with eight 3-pointers, had a 38-7 advantage in bench points. Duquesne was 3 of 16 behind the arc and shot 34%.
Women’s game
James Madison 59, Robert Morris 32: The Colonials (5-6) were held scoreless in the first quarter and never got their offense going in a loss to the host Dukes (9-2). Nneka Ezeigbo led Robert Morris with 11 points and eight rebounds, The Colonials shot just 16 percent from the field.