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MORGANTOWN, WV – No. 19 West Virginia (7-1) used a 21-8 run over the final 5:05 of the first half en route to a 102-69 win over the NJIT Highlanders (4-3) on Thursday night at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.
 
This marked NJIT's first ever meeting against West Virginia and also their first ever matchup with a Big 12 foe.
 
The Mountaineers were ranked No. 19 in the latest AP Poll and have advanced to eight of the last 10 NCAA Tournaments under head coach Bob Huggins.
 
The Highlanders' Diandre Wilson hit a layup at the 5:30 mark of the opening stanza and brought the visitors within three at 28-25 before Lamont West responded with a three-pointer on the other end to stretch the West Virginia lead back to six.
 
NJIT battled for all 40 minutes, but would not get closer than five the rest of the way.
 
The three from West kickstarted the 21-8 run for WVU which was capped by a Wesley Harris layup that gave the hosts a 49-33 lead heading into the locker room.
 
Sophomore forward Anthony Tarke paced head coach Brian Kennedy's squad with 13 points and six rebounds, while Wilson added 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting and freshman guard Shawndale Jones chipped in with nine points of his own off the bench. Abdul Lewis contributed seven points and seven rebounds for the Highlanders.
 
Wilson has now scored in double figures in each of his last four games and is averaging 13.3 points per game during that stretch.
 
Senior guard Jevon Carter knocked down five threes and led all scorers with a game-high 25 points for the Mountaineers. Carter was joined in double figures by Terry Allen who had 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting, West (13 points), James Bolden (12 points) and Harris (11 points).
 
Both teams shot well from the charity stripe as NJIT sank 17-of-23 (73.9%) and West Virginia hit 18-of-24 (75.0%). Jones and fellow freshman Zach Cooks each converted all four of their free throw attempts for the Highlanders.
 
The Highlanders scored six of the first eight points in this one on the strength of triples from Lewis and Wilson.
 
Tarke hit a layup at the 9:39 mark of the first half to give NJIT a 19-18 advantage before Daxter Miles Jr. hit back-to-back layups to give the Mountaineers the lead for good.
 
NJIT scored the opening bucket of the second half on a Tarke dunk to cut the lead to 14 before West Virginia embarked on a 15-0 run that made it a 64-35 game with 16:34 to play.
 
The Highlanders return home to host UMass Lowell (5-2) on Sunday afternoon at the Wellness and Events Center (WEC). Opening tip is set for 2 p.m. and the game can be seen on ESPN3.


Write-up courtesy of Joe Fitzhenry