WVU Beats Alcorn State, 97-62

PITTSBURGH (93-7 The FAN) — Kevin Jones had 29 points and 13 rebounds Thursday night for a double-double as the West Virginia Mountaineers (2-1) rebounded from their first loss of the year to beat Alcorn State (1-1) at home, 97-62.

Darryl "Truck" Bryant added 18 points, Kevin Noreen had 12 and Deniz Kilicli and Jabarie Hinds scored 10 each as other Mountaineers in double figures. Gary Browne led WVU with 12 rebounds to help build a 55-31 rebounding advantage over the Braves.

"You can always get something out of this and I thought we played hard tonight," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "We didn't run offense in the first half; I think five of our first seven shots were 3s and we don't need that.

"I think we've got to shoot 3s but we don't have to shoot five of our first seven from 3, particularly when you've got an opponent who is out-manned inside with Deniz and KJ's ability to score the ball in close," said Huggins.

Jones had 15 of West Virginia's first 21 points to build a 21-12 lead eight minutes into the game. He added five more before halftime and the Mountaineers took a 44-28 lead into the break.

Jones scored four points as part of WVU's 16-4 run to start the second half and build a commanding 60-32 lead with 14:36 remaining. It was smooth sailing from then on and the Mountaineers cruised to a 97-62 victory.

"The more things that we see, the more that we go over things, the more they will have a frame of reference and the better off we're going to be down the road," Huggins said.