No. 14 WVU slips past Baylor
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) – Daxter Miles Jr. scored a season-high 20 points and No. 14 West Virginia beat No. 15 Baylor 80-69 Saturday night to grab sole possession of first place in the Big 12.
West Virginia (19-4, 8-2) took over at the top of the standings after No. 1 Oklahoma lost to Kansas State 80-69 on Saturday. The Sooners fell into a second-place tie with No. 7 Kansas and Texas at 7-3.
Jaysean Paige scored 17 points, Devin Williams added 16 and Nathan Adrian had 11 points and nine rebounds for West Virginia, which finally found a way to beat Baylor (17-6, 6-4) after four straight losses to the Bears going back two years.
King McClure and Ishmail Wainright had 11 points apiece while Taurean Prince and Terry Maston had 10 each for Baylor (17-6, 6-4).
Baylor scored one basket over the first five minutes of the second half and West Virginia extended a nine-point halftime lead to 51-36 on Miles’ 3-pointer.
Williams, Adrian and Esa Ahmad helped neutralize Rico Gathers, the only Big 12 player averaging a double-double in points and rebounds.
Gathers, who averaged 16 points and 12 rebounds in three games against the Mountaineers a year ago, was held to five points on 1-of-9 shooting Saturday.
Ahmad blocked Gathers’ layup attempt, Miles hit a 3-pointer at the other end and Williams followed with a jumper from the top of the key to give West Virginia its largest lead, 62-43, with 9:28 left.
Baylor made it interesting down the stretch. McClure’s 3-pointer sandwiched around layups by Al Freeman and Maston pulled Baylor within 68-58 with 3:25 left. Wainright’s 3-pointer made it 74-67 with a minute left, but the Bears got no closer.
The lead changed six times in the opening 10 minutes and neither team led by more than five points until Miles and Tarik Phillip each hit 3-pointers and Adrian sank two free throws to put West Virginia ahead 38-29 at halftime.
Baylor: The Bears had beaten West Virginia by an average of 11 points in their three previous visits to Morgantown. … Baylor shot just 33 percent (12 of 36) from the floor in the second half and had a three-game road winning streak snapped.
West Virginia capped off a strong week after beating Iowa State on the road on Tuesday. The Mountaineers improved to 3-2 against ranked opponents this season. … It marked the first time in four tries since joining the Big 12 that West Virginia beat the Bears at home.
West Virginia forward Jonathan Holton sat out his third straight game. He was suspended a week ago by coach Bob Huggins for an undisclosed violation of team rules and his return hasn’t been specified. Adrian started in his place Saturday.
Baylor: At Kansas State on Wednesday.
West Virginia: At No. 7 Kansas on Tuesday.