Mountaineers Shocked by Penn State in Exhibition

The West Virginia Mountaineers lost in their charity exhibition game inside the Coliseum to Penn State 84-82.

Penn State hit four of their first five shots and jumped out to a 10-0 lead. Esa Ahmad ended the Mountaineers scoring drought with a strong drive to the basket and followed it up with a three to cut the deficit down to five.

The Mountaineers got within two before Trent Buttrick hit a three to put Penn State up five and heading to the second media timeout of the game. WVU started the game shooting 3-13 from the field.

West Virginia cut Penn State’s lead to one, then Penn State’s Lamar Stevens hit a three giving the Nittany Lions the 18-14 advantage.

WVU took their first lead of the game with an Ahmad put back and then Wesley Harris stole the ball underneath the basket and put it in and was fouled. Harris made the free throw putting WVU 19-18.

Penn State went on an 8-0 run taking a 26-19 lead by Penn State’s Lamar Stevens five points.

West Virginia cut the Penn State lead to four, 33-29, before Penn State went on another 10-0 run behind a couple three pointers and a dunk by Myles Dread.

At the half, Esa Ahmad led the Mountaineers with 13 points and six rebounds. West Virginia shot just 30% (9-30) from the field and went (16.7%) 2-12 from behind the arc. Penn State’s Myles Dread led all scorers with 14 points. The Nittany Lions went 15-33 (45.5%) from the field and shot 56.3% (9-16) from three.

Logan Routt hit a pair of free throws before the end of the half to cut into the deficit 43-31.

Lamont West and Chase Harler opened the second half with back to back threes; however, Lamar Stevens answered with a three of his own to put Penn State back up by nine.

Another three from Lamont West got the Mountaineers back within six. Both teams continued to trade baskets, until Sagaba Konate took a seven-point PSU lead down to two with an old fashioned three-point play and a pair of free throws.

Penn State grew their lead back to six on straight free throws, four from Myles Dread.

West Virginia was on an 9-1 run and tied the game up at 66 before Dread Myles hit a three to take back the lead. Then, Rasir Bolton put it in from the paint, giving Penn State the five-point advantage.

The Mountaineers fought back and went up 77-76, but Penn State’s Rasir Bolton’s banked in a three. Bolton added a free throw and a layup giving Penn State a five-point lead. However, Chase Harler hit a three from the corner to get the Mountaineers back within two, 82-80, with just over a minute to play.

West Virginia got the ball back on a shot clock violation and Esa Ahmad tied the game up driving the lane for an easy two with 27 seconds remaining in the game.

Penn State’s Lamar Stevens missed a jumper, but Josh Reeves was there for the put back with one second remaining in the game.