Box Score

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Eastern Kentucky led for a majority of the game at West Virginia on Friday night, but the Mountaineers pulled away at the end for an 80-77 victory.
 
EKU (5-2) led by as many as 12 points in the first half. The Colonels took their largest lead of the second half, 55-48, on a three-pointer by Braxton Beverly with 15:16 on the clock.
 
WVU (5-1) responded with a 9-1 run and grabbed a 57-56 advantage with 12:42 showing. The two teams traded leads over the next nine minutes and went into the final media timeout tied at 71-71.
 
The Mountaineers outscored the Colonels 9-3 over the final four minutes of the game, before a three-pointer at the buzzer by Russhard Cruickshank made it 80-77.
 
The game featured seven lead changes.
 
Jannson Williams led EKU with 22 points, seven rebounds, two blocks and two steals. He shot 5-of-8 from three-point range.
 
Michael Moreno and Braxton Beverly added 12 points apiece for the Colonels.
 
Eastern shot 49 percent from the field (27-of-55) and 48 percent from deep (14-of-29). The Colonels, meanwhile, stifled West Virginia to 22 percent shooting from behind the arc (5-of-23).
 
The Mountaineers, however, won the turnover battle, 17-9, and outscored Eastern in the paint, 38-22.
 
WVU's Taz Sherman led all players on the night with 28 points.
 
EKU came out on fire, connecting on six of its first nine 3-point attempts. A triple by Williams made it 12-2 in favor of Eastern less than two minutes into the game.
 
The Colonels took their largest lead of the first half, 30-18, when Beverly converted a fast-break layup with 10:16 on the clock.
 
WVU slowly clawed back and grabbed its first advantage of the night when Sherman drained a three-pointer to make it 36-35 with 2:17 left in the first half.
 
EKU, however, responded with a 6-0 run, as a pull-up jumper by Moreno pushed the Colonels' lead back out to five, 41-36, 49 ticks on the clock.
 
A layup by Isiah Cottrell with 13 seconds left ended the run, but Eastern Kentucky went into the locker room up at the break, 41-38.
 
The Colonels' two-game road trip continues Sunday at Radford.  Tipoff is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.