No. 17 West Virginia wins 6th in a row, 95-87

FORT WORTH, Texas — Jaysean Paige was in foul trouble like many of his West Virginia teammates. The senior guard made the most of his time on the court.

Paige scored 20 points in only 15 minutes, with seven of the points in a late gameclinching run as foulplagued and turnover-prone No. 17 West Virginia stretched its winning streak to six games with a 95-87 victory over TCU on Monday night.

Coach Bob Huggins wanted the ball in the hands of his guards Paige and Tarik Phillip in the second half after the Mountaineers (13-1, 2-0 Big 12) had 14 turnovers before the break, when they were called for 21 fouls and were somehow down by only two points.

“We were turning the ball over at an alarming rate,” Huggins said. “I figured our best chance was to give it to the guys that you trust the most with it, and tell them don’t pass it unless you have to.”

Phillip finished with one foul and 18 points, 14 coming in the second half, when Paige got all but two of his points. They were among six players scoring in double figures for the Mountaineers, who had two players foul out and four others, including Paige, finish with four fouls.

“Tarik was terrific, Tarik is so competitive. I thought he as much as anybody willed us to win,” Huggins said. “Then Jaysean comes in and gets 20 in 15 minutes. … We’re pretty good when he stays in the game.”

Frogs coach Trent Johnson said one of the disappointing things is spending so much time talking about mental toughness and then for his team to lose its poise, “and it hurt us down the stretch.”

TCU (8-6, 0-2), coming off a 69-48 Big 12-opening loss at Oklahoma State, played the first conference game in its renovated arena. For a while, it looked like the Frogs might inaugurate the building with an upset victory.