Tre Mitchell scored 16 points on 6-of-7 shooting to help West Virginia post an easy 89-71 victory over Portland State on Friday night in consolation play of the Phil Knight Legacy at Portland, Ore.
The result gave Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins his 921st career win, snapping a tie with Jim Calhoun to move into sole possession of third place on the NCAA’s all-time men’s Division I coaching victories list.
Emmitt Matthews Jr. scored 14 points, Kedrian Johnson had 12 points and four steals and Seth Wilson also had 12 points on four 3-pointers for West Virginia (5-1). Erik Stevenson and Joe Toussaint had 11 points apiece for the Mountaineers.
Cameron Parker was 13 of 13 from the free-throw line while scoring 19 points for Portland State (2-4). Hunter Woods added 12 points for the Vikings.
West Virginia will face Florida in the fifth-place game on Sunday.
Portland State will meet Oregon State in Sunday’s seventh-place game. The Vikings defeated the Beavers 79-66 in Corvallis last Saturday.
West Virginia shot 60.8 percent from the field, including 7 of 16 from 3-point range. The Mountaineers scored 32 points off 24 Vikings’ turnovers.
Portland State made 38.3 percent of its shots and was 5 of 20 from behind the arc.
The Vikings were trailing by 20 points before they scored 10 consecutive points to pull within 60-50 with 13:02 left in the game. Parker capped the run by driving through the Mountaineers’ defense for a layup.
Toussaint responded with back-to-back baskets to halt the Portland State surge.
The Mountaineers got the lead back over 20 when Jimmy Bell Jr. made a layup to make it 85-64 with three minutes left. The lead topped out at 23 points.
Johnson scored 12 first-half points and Mitchell had 10 as West Virginia held a 53-36 lead.
The Mountaineers shot 65.5 percent (19 of 29) in the half and scored 23 points off 16 Portland State turnovers.
West Virginia led by three before going on a 15-5 run to open up a 28-15 lead with 10:31 left in the half. Toussaint scored back-to-back baskets to end the spurt.
The Vikings pulled within 33-26 on a 3-pointer by Woods before the Mountaineers scored 10 of the next 11 points to increase their lead to 16.
Wilson drained a 3-pointer with just under five seconds left for the 17-point halftime cushion.
–Field Level Media
