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Hansberry Hurt as WVU Logs Sluggish Win Over Mercyhurst

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WVU Basketball Sencire Harris
Kelsie LeRose/WVSN

MORGANTOWN — Call it rust, call it overconfidence, call it an off game, whatever the reason, WVU put forth a sluggish effort in a 67-46 victory over Mercyhurst Sunday afternoon inside the WVU Coliseum. 

The Lakers (6-9) are playing their first season at the division-I level after putting up a losing record in division-II last year. And yet, they were able to hang around with the Mountaineers (9-2) through large stretches of Sunday’s contest.

Starting center Amani Hansberry came up limp after the second possession of the game and did not re-enter the game. He played less than one minute.

It took 14 minutes for WVU to build a double-digit lead in the first half and the Mountaineers’ advantage never grew larger than 14 before halftime. Mercyhurst cut WVU’s first-half lead to just six points with eight minutes to play on a three-pointer by Jeff Planutis.

The Mountaineers finally started to pull away when an Eduardo Andre layup capped off an 11-3 run that put them up by 14, 32-18. From there, however, West Virginia did not make another field goal for the final three and a half minutes of the first half and led 35-22 at halftime.

Things didn’t pick up much for the Mountaineers after halftime. After scoring the first three points of the half, WVU gave up an 8-0 run as the Lakers cut the lead back to single digits, 38-30.

Then, finally, the Mountaineers were able to put their opponents away. A renewed defensive effort powered WVU to a 16-point run that put them up by 24, 54-30. It took over 30 minutes of play for WVU’s lead to reach 20 points for the first time.

West Virginia had a 27-5 run over a 10-minute stretch in the second half to secure the 21-point victory.

Javon Small led WVU basketball with 19 points and seven assists. Eduardo Andre put up 14 points and six rebounds in Hansberry’s absence. Toby Okani added 13 points and a team-high 12 rebounds.

Aidan Reichert led Mercyhurst with 14 points as Planutis added nine.

Star senior Tucker DeVries missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury.

WVU now embarks on Big 12 play, traveling to Allen Fieldhouse to take on No. 8 Kansas on New Year’s Eve at 2 p.m.

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