NCAA News Wire
West Virginia 83, Lafayette 56
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
A dominant rebounding performance powered West Virginia to an 83-56 win over Lafayette on Sunday afternoon in Morgantown, W.Va.
Led by senior forward Jonathan Holton’s 18-point, 15-rebound effort, the Mountaineers (2-0) outrebounded the Leopards 50-31, with sophomore forward Devin Williams chipping in a double-double of his own (15 points, 11 rebounds).
Guards Jaysean Paige (16 points) and Juwan Staten (10 points, eight assists) also finished in double figures for Bob Huggins’ team.
West Virginia dominated the glass to the tune of a 27-12 rebounding advantage over the opening 20 minutes, grabbing more of their own misses (16) than Lafayette (1-1) did total rebounds. That helped propel them to a 26-12 start and 39-24 lead entering the intermission.
After six straight points by Lafayette made it a 10-point game with 16:30 to play, West Virginia went on a 20-4 run to lead by 61-35 with 12:30 remaining. Lafayette did not get within 18 the rest of the way.
The rebounding differential gave West Virginia a huge advantage in shots taken, with 81 field goal attempts to just 46 by Lafayette. Five Mountaineers had three or more offensive rebounds, while not a single Leopard had more than one.
Leopards senior forward Dan Trist had 12 points and six rebounds to lead his team. He was the only member of the squad scoring in double figures. Seth Hinrichs, a senior wing and the team’s usual leading scorer, was held to just seven points on 3-of-8 shooting.
