National Basketball Association
West Virginia 77, Grand Canyon 63
When: 7:00 PM ET, Wednesday, March 20, 2019
Where: WVU Coliseum, Morgantown, West Virginia
Officials:
# Rod Mrakovich, # Tim Stewart, # Ron Tyburski
Attendance:
5313
By Field Level Media
Junior guard Jermaine Haley scored 24 points to lead West Virginia to a 77-63 victory over Grand Canyon on Wednesday night in a first-round game in the College Basketball Invitational at Morgantown, W.Va.
The Mountaineers broke open a tight game by finishing on a 28-12 run.
Lamont West and Emmitt Matthews Jr. each scored 11 for West Virginia. Derek Culver had 10 rebounds and seven points.
West Virginia (15-20) will host Coastal Carolina on Monday in the quarterfinals of the 16-team event.
Grand Canyon, which lost to top-seeded New Mexico State in the championship game of the Western Athletic Conference tournament, finishes 20-14.
Oscar Frayer scored 13 points to lead the Antelopes, and Damari Milstead added 12. Carlos Johnson, averaging a team-high 14.6 points, managed just two in 14 foul-plagued minutes before fouling out with 5:53 to go.
Haley, averaging 6.5 points for the season, continued his recent streak as he entered with an average of 15.9 points in the previous eight games. He scored 16 in the second half.
West Virginia was down by two about halfway through the second half, but Chase Harler helped ignite a 9-0 run with a 3-pointer, two free throws and an outlet pass that led to Haley's layup for a 58-51 lead with 7:57 to go.
The Mountaineers controlled the game the rest of the way.
Harler had 10 points and four assists.
West Virginia started 2 of 12 from the field but used a 9-0 run to take a 20-17 lead. It stayed a one-possession game until Haley scored the final four points of the half, including a buzzer-beating fastbreak dunk after a steal by Harler, for a 36-32 lead.
The CBI hadn't featured a team from a Power 5 conference or Big East since 2015 before West Virginia and DePaul joined this year's field. Teams are required to pay $40,000 to host a game in the first two rounds.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| Grand Canyon |
|
West Virginia |
|
Oscar Frayer 13 |
Scoring |
Jermaine Haley 24 |
|
Carlos Johnson 3 |
Assists |
Chase Harler 4 |
|
Alessandro Lever 8 |
Rebounds |
Derek Culver 10 |
|
Michael Finke 2 |
Free Throws Made |
Emmitt Matthews Jr. 5 |
|
Oscar Frayer 2 |
Steals |
Jermaine Haley 2 |
|
Oscar Frayer 3 |
Blocks |
Logan Routt 3 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| Grand Canyon
|
63 |
40.3 |
9-29 |
4-7 |
12 |
34 |
4 |
5 |
14 |
| West Virginia
|
77 |
40.8 |
6-22 |
13-18 |
13 |
43 |
4 |
8 |
11 |
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