Published: January 17, 2008 11:52 pm      

Home streak intact

WVU pulls away late to top St. John’s, 73-64

MORGANTOWN — A long time ago basketball was considered a non-contact sport.

But there was no resemblance of that on Thursday night as West Virginia defeated St. John’s 73-64 in an extremely physical Big East contest at the Coliseum.

In making their record 13-4 overall and 3-2 in the conference, the Mountaineers extended their home winning streak to 15, going back to last year. It also was their seventh straight victory in the series which WVU leads by 17-15.

The officials called a grand total of 40 personal fouls – 20 against each team – and awarded a staggering total of 48 free throws. West Virginia converted 19 of 25 and the Red Storm 17 of 23.

There also was an intentional foul and a technical foul on the same play of the rougher-than-usual game.

“We didn’t make shots,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said. “We didn’t guard the ball. They came back in the second half and drove right down the lane, and we had to do something.”

Obviously, that meant turn as physical as the aggressive Red Storm, especially in the second half. The score was tied at 29-all at intermission.

“We play lots of games,” Huggins sighed. “We are going to play 31 (total). I demand that they come to practice everyday. But I didn’t think that our preparation was that good, but I have to hand it to them.

“They out-rebounded us by nine (39-30).”

St. John’s coach Norm Roberts said, “West Virginia is a very good team. I thought our guys played pretty well. I thought we played really, really hard.”

As for the extremely physical play by both teams, he commented that all Big East games are rough.

“But Coach Huggins does a good job here,” Roberts said. “I think our team played with the same type of physicality. Give them credit.”

West Virginia shot 59.1 percent in the second half and 43.4 for the game. St. John’s, how 7-9 and 1-4, shot 39.6 percent from the field.

Da’Sean Butler and Joe Alexander led the winning attack with 19 and 15 points, respectively. Darris Nichols and reserve John Flowers chipped in 10 each.

Anthony Mason Jr. scored 14 points for the Red Storm. But reserve Larry Wright had a team-high 15. D.J. Kennedy topped all rebounders with 11, all off the defensive board.

Roberts observed, “Alexander made some big plays. But the kid that makes the really big plays is Flowers. He made some threes.”

There were ties at 2 and 29 in the first half along with two lead changes. The Red Storm led by eight points at 19-11 with 10:32 left in the half. WVU was in front by six at 29-23, but St. John’s caught up at the rest stop.

It was nip-and-tuck early in the second half with another tie at 33 and four more changes of the lead. Then the Mountaineers went on a 14-4 tear that opened up a 51-41 advantage with 9:10 remaining.

The biggest bulge was 12 points at 55-43 on Flowers’ three-point goal with 7:41 left. It was a foul-shooting contest the rest of the way.

West Virginia plays at South Florida on Sunday afternoon.