West Virginia Never Trails in Home Win Over Lehigh

Morgantown West Virginia

By: Ethan Hennessy

West Virginia sported an impressive 145-13 home non-conference record over the previous 24 seasons entering Sunday afternoon’s contest against Lehigh. The Mountaineers jumped out to a 16-2 lead early as Lehigh’s defense struggled to provide resistance in the paint. The offensive end was not much kinder to the Mountain Hawks as they turned the ball over five times in the first seven minutes of game time. West Virginia continued to dominate the second half. Lehigh looked discombobulated and struggled to put things together. At the 2:41 mark, the Mountaineers extended their lead to 40-14.

Lehigh brought some better defense in the second half holding West Virginia to 38.1%  shooting compared to 45.5% in the first half. The Mountain Hawks made a 7-0 run around the eight-minute mark in the second half to cut the Mountaineer lead to 58-44. West Virginia with their signature hounding defense forced Lehigh into 16 turnovers over the course of the game. Lehigh showed good bench depth as 20 of the Mountain Hawks points came from non-starters. Brenen Lorient led the way for the Mountaineers with a stat line of 26 points seven points and three steals. Lehigh was led by Andre Irosevic with 16 points including four made three pointers.

The Mountaineers remained undefeated and moved to 3-0 on the season. Lehigh dropped to 1-2 after playing their second Big 12 team on the road. Up next West Virginia continues their season opening five game homestand against rival Pitt and fellow Lehigh Valley Patriot League member Lafayette. Lehigh will continue their road trip playing at Rutgers on Friday.