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Injury to Amani Hansberry Not Expected to Be Serious

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WVU Basketball Bench - Amani Hansberry and Jonathan Powell

Starring center Amani Hansberry played less than a minute for WVU basketball on Sunday, but luckily for the Mountaineers, his injury is not believed to be serious.

Hansberry came up limp on just the second possession of the game against Mercyhurst on Sunday and went straight into the West Virginia locker room with an obvious limp. He later returned to the bench but was not wearing one of his shoes and did not re-enter the game.

Following the 67-46 victory over the Lakers, WVU coach Darian DeVries said Hansberry’s injury isn’t expected to be serious and hopes that he won’t miss much time.

“I don’t think (It’s serious),” DeVries said. “I think he should be good.”

Without Hansberry, backup center Eduardo Andre came in and scored 14 points with six rebounds and three assists.

“(Mercyhurst) did a lot of switch that keeps you out of some rhythm, but I thought we were able to throw it in there some and he was able to make plays for himself,” DeVries said.

Andre played a season-high 24 minutes.

“It’s the same thing for me whether I’m playing 40 minutes or I’m playing 10 minutes,” Andre said. “You go out there to give energy and work as hard as you can.”

Third-string center Haris Elezovic also played extended minutes, logging a season-high 14. He scored four points and pulled down five rebounds.

“It’s a great luxury as a coach to have a guy that is that big and physical and experienced as the third center,” DeVries said of Elezociv. “Just that physicality he’s able to bring is nice for us to throw in there and know he’s not just going to get overwhelmed on the block.”

Hansberry going down left WVU without two starters as senior Tucker DeVries missed his third straight game with an upper-body injury.

“Since the summertime, we’ve been preaching that our margins are small, so we have to execute and be ready for anything that’s thrown at us,” said Toby Okani, who finished with 13 points and a team-high 12 rebounds. “Everyone has to be ready for their opportunity to help us win. Eduardo and everyone else on the team stepped up for us to get this win.”

The Mountaineers have their longest break of the season before playing again, with nine days to prepare of their Big 12 opener at No. 8 Kansas on Dec. 31.

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