Javon Small comes up big as West Virginia handles Bethune-Cookman

Javon Small paved the way for West Virginia's fourth consecutive win, scoring 27 points, grabbing six rebounds and dishing out six assists in an 84-61 victory over Bethune-Cookman Saturday night in Morgantown, W. Va.

Amani Hansberry finished with 16 while Jonathan Powell hit four 3-pointers and scored 14. Sencire Harris added 12 for West Virginia (8-2), which improved to 6-0 at home and has its first four-game winning streak since December of 2022.

The Mountaineers were 20-for-22 from the free-throw line and all 10 players scored at least two points.

For the Wildcats (2-8), Braylon Freeman was the high scorer, pouring in 14 points, while Daniel Rouzan added 13 points. Trey Thomas and Reggie Ward chipped in 12 apiece for the Wildcats, who have dropped four in a row, including three consecutive against power conference opponents.

But they only trailed 45-39 with 16:04 left in the game after Thomas drove inside for a score. The Mountaineers answered moments later with a big 3-pointer from Powell, extending the lead to 48-39, and put the game out of reach from there.

West Virginia seemed destined to dominate from start to finish as it made five of its first six attempts from the field, including a 3-pointer from Powell that put the Mountaineers up 12-3 with 16:31 to go in the opening half.

Hansberry added a shot from distance with 10:37 to play as the Mountaineers took their first double-digit lead of the day at 21-10. That shot was among the highlights during an 11-0 run that led to a 26-10 lead.

West Virginia led 37-17 with 4:32 to play, but the Wildcats made things interesting late in the half on the strength of a 12-0 run. Thomas' layup trimmed the Mountaineer advantage to 37-29 with 1:33 to play.

Bethune-Cookman went to halftime down only 41-30 despite shooting 33.3 percent from the field, though it did make five of its last eight. West Virginia shot 51.7 percent but missed six of its last seven from the floor.

--Field Level Media