Nick Arthur, Morgantown -
Carlton Guyton led four
Kent State players in double figures as the Golden Flashes defeated West Virginia
70-60 Tuesday morning at the Coliseum.
An unusual 10 a.m. tipoff
led to a small crowd of 5,616 taking in the action between the two teams.
The senior guard Guyton
scored 17 points to lead all scorers.
West Virginia led 33-28 at
halftime, but a dominating second half by the Golden Flashes led to the
Mountaineers' first loss of the season.
"We definitely don't want
to lose a home game, especially to a non-conference team," senior forward Kevin
Jones said. "Hopefully we just get everything right, because we can't dwell on
the past."
"We're not good enough to
shoot 16 for 28 from the foul line, turn it over 17 times and win," said West
Virginia head coach Bob Huggins.
The Mountaineers started
quickly and were able to jump out to a 14-6 lead behind seven straight points
from freshman forward Aaron Brown.
But the Golden Flashes
were able to rally and held their first lead, 17-16, midway through the first
half.
West Virginia dominated
the glass, something it was unable to do in the home opener against Oral
Roberts.
Both teams had multiple
players in foul trouble. A total of 23 team fouls were called in the first 20
minutes of play.
Kevin Jones and junior forward
Deniz Kilicli combined for 19 first-half rebounds.
The Mountaineers held a
33-28 advantage at halftime.
Kent State used a full-court
press to begin the second half that forced the West Virginia offense to play
fast.
The fast play led to
multiple Mountaineer turnovers, and Kent State took the lead, 43-41, with 15
minutes remaining in the game.
The Golden Flashes held
their largest lead with 12 minutes left in the game, 51-44, after a Truck
Bryant pass was stolen by Kent State and taken the other way for a layup.
The visitors continued to
add to their lead. Truck Bryant's sixth turnover resulted in another Kent State
score. The Golden Flashes led 55-45 with 9:58 left to play.
A convincing dunk by Deniz
Kilicli got the crowd back into the game and cut the deficit to six, 55-49 with
8:42 remaining.
But, much like it did all
morning, Kent State responded. Two easy buckets against the West Virginia 1-3-1
defense extended the lead to nine, 60-51.
The Golden Flashes forced
yet another Mountaineer turnover and held a 66-53 advantage with 3:55 remaining
in the game.
"We didn't have near
the effort, and we didn't have near the bounce in our step that we had in the
first half," said Huggins.
West Virginia freshman
guard Jabarie Hinds hit a three to bring the Mountaineers within 10, but it
proved to be a little too late for the home team.
"We still have a lot to
work on," Kevin Jones said. "I don't want to use the excuse of having a young
team, but there are some points where these guys play like they're upper
classmen and there are some points where they play like freshman."
"We just have to get to a
point where it is more consistent."
Deniz Kilicli struggled
offensively but was able to contribute 15 rebounds.
Kevin Jones had another
solid game for West Virginia. Jones finished with 15 points going along with 17
rebounds.
The Mountaineers struggled
from the free-throw line while only making 16-28.
Bob Huggins felt some of
his players didn't give full effort.
"If you take a play off
against good teams, they're going to expose you," he said.
West Virginia shot just 36
percent from the field and 2-12 from three-point range.
West Virginia will have
little time to fix these problems. The Mountaineers will play again Thursday
night. But West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins is confident things will
improve.
"We'll fix it," Huggins
said. "I just can't fix everything at once."
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