Mountaineers return to winning form in 62-58 win over Bellarmine

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – No matter the opponent, wins are going to take all 40 minutes on the court for the WVU men’s basketball team this season, and its win Sunday proved that sentiment.

The Mountaineers (3-3) took down Bellarmine (2-5) 62-58 at the WVU Coliseum Sunday evening behind Jesse Edwards’ third double-double of the year and a strong performance in the paint on offense.

After surrendering a three-ball to Bellarmine early, Edwards (17 points, 14 rebounds) led WVU on a 6-0 run to find its legs offensively.

WVU missed its first five three-point attempts, and it didn’t sink a deep ball until the 5:26 mark of the first half. It did come at the right time, and Ofri Naveh (10 points) and Quinn Slazinski (16 points, five rebounds) drilled back-to-back threes to extend WVU’s lead to 29-25 in a back-and-forth first half.

Like he did in his career-best performance against Jacksonville State, point guard Kobe Johnson (13 points) tallied 11 points in the first half. Sunday was the sixth game of a nine-game stretch in which Johnson will start at point guard with Arizona transfer Kerr Kriisa suspended.

Johnson’s 11 points were a team-high at halftime.

After going 22-for-34 at the line in Fort Myers, WVU’s free-throw percentage increased Sunday with a 17-of-21 (81%) showing. The Mountaineers nailed 10-of-13 free throws in the first half.

Bellarmine continued its patient offensive attack in the second half, and the Knights went on a 10-4 run in the middle part of the half to take a 45-44 lead, which was their first in over 20 minutes of game time.

At the perfect time, WVU responded with a 6-0 run of its own to go up 50-45. The Mountaineers never gave up their lead after that, and Bellarmine was never within a basket in the last three-and-a-half minutes of play. Naveh reached 10 points in the process, which marks a career high.

WVU hosts St. John’s Friday night at 7 p.m. ET as a part of the Big East-Big 12 Battle.