Shanna Rose | WV Sports Chat
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia locked down Mercyhurst on Sunday, holding the Lakers to just 16 points after halftime and rolling to a 70–38 win at Hope Coliseum.
Behind 11 points and eight rebounds from Chance Moore and 10 points from freshman guard Amir Jenkins, the Mountaineers (6–2) controlled the game from the opening minutes and never looked back. Treysen Eaglestaff added nine points and eight rebounds, while Brenen Lorient scored all nine of his points in the first half.
The 38 points allowed matched West Virginia’s fewest since the “Press Virginia” days, when Coppin State scored the same number in 2017.
Before digging into the game, first-year head coach Ross Hodge opened his postgame remarks by offering condolences to the family of West Virginia National Guard member Sarah Beckstrom and sharing his prayers for the recovery of Andrew Wolfe, both shot in Washington, D.C., on Nov. 26.
“I thought we got off to a great start defensively,” Hodge said. “I thought we really set the tone early.”
WVU backed that up immediately, scoring the first 10 points during a 16–2 burst to start the game. Mercyhurst responded with a 13–2 stretch — fueled by back-to-back 3-pointers from senior guard Bernie Blunt III — to cut the lead to three midway through the first half. Blunt scored 10 of his game-high 14 points during that window.
But Hodge didn’t love that brief lapse.
“Really, the only complaint I have defensively was that one little stretch when we let Bernie Blunt going, their best player,” he said. “We were late on some rotations… and we didn’t identify those guys (quickly enough).“
After that, the Mountaineers slammed the door shut. WVU closed the half on a 21–7 run — including the final eight points — to take a 39–22 lead into the break. The Mountaineers shot 64% (16 of 25) in the first half, turned nine Laker turnovers into 13 points, and built a 21–2 bench scoring advantage.
Twelve WVU players saw the floor, and 10 scored. Moore became the seventh different Mountaineers player in eight games to lead the team in scoring. Jenkins’ 10 points marked his first double-digit outing of the season.
“Amir and Chance were really aggressive getting downhill and closed the first half right and began the second half right,”Hodge said.
WVU never let the margin shrink after halftime, stretching the lead to 33 with under six minutes remaining. The Mountaineers finished with dominant specialty numbers: 37–7 in bench points, 36–16 in the paint, and 44–27 on the glass.
Mercyhurst (3–5), making just its second-ever trip to the Coliseum, shot 33.3% overall and made only 1 of 8 free throws.
The afternoon also marked the season debut of 6-foot-8 Troy transfer Jackson Fields, who missed the first seven games with a preseason wrist injury. He contributed nine points, three rebounds and two assists in 12 minutes.
Hodge said he still sees growth ahead offensively.
“Offensively, just like I told the team, we can keep getting better and that’s the beauty of it,” he said. “It’s about to be December, but it’s still early… collectively, I thought our attention to detail was good.”
WVU hosts Coppin State on Wednesday, December. 3 at 7 p.m.
Photo Credit: Shanna Rose
