March Madness in Morgantown

March is finally here. Set the madness in motion. The menacing Mountaineers pounded Georgetown 81-68 in the season’s final home game in Morgantown Monday night. WVU senior, Da’Sean Butler, posted 22 points in the hammering of the 19th ranked Hoyas. The university’s third leading scorer behind Jerry West and Rod Hundley also holds the school’s record with 100 games scoring in double figures. West Virginia’s emphatic thumping of their Big East rival clinches them a double bye into the quarterfinals of the conference tournament. Georgetown’s free fall continued. The Hoyas trailed by as many as 27 points in the early second half before losing their fourth game in five tries.
Number ten West Virginia honored three of their senior players before 13,211 fans Monday (Butler, Wellington Smith and Cam Payne). The Mountaineers tallied 24 points by forcing 20 Georgetown turnovers. The Hoyas committed 12 turnovers in the first half. The home team had nine the entire game. The Georgetown giveaways resulted in a crushing 43-26 halftime lead for Bob Huggins’ Mountaineers. Georgetown entered Monday’s contest without leading scorer, Austin Freeman. Hollis Thompson replaced Freeman, but was held to three points. Greg Monroe collected 22 points and nine rebounds and Chris Wright added 21 and 7 assists for the Hoyas. The visitors shot 67% from the charity stripe. Monroe went 6-of-9 on free throws attempts, hitting the rim and falling short on three near misses. Georgetown outshot WVU from the field and from downtown, but the Mountaineers broke the game open during the second half. West Virginia sailed ahead so far the Hoyas were playing catch-up the entire night. The Mountaineers’ up-tempo transition offense and tenacious defense produced enough pressure to stymie any Hoya chances.
Kevin Jones notched six points to push the home team’s lead to 53-26 in the second half. Jones finished with 14 points and Devin Ebanks turned in 15 for 23-6 WVU. The helpless Hoyas had four giveaways in the first three minutes of the second half. Wright pounded in 10 of his 21 points during the span as the Mountaineers went without a field goal for five minutes. The hosts still held a comfortable lead until the game’s final five minutes. Georgetown used runs of 9-0 and 8-0 to whittle the deficit to eleven points with less than seven minutes remaining. West Virginia did not sleep on their advantageous lead. A few bad Georgetown turnovers ended in crucial conversions on West Virginia’s end in the closing minutes. Butler helped pushed the margin back to double digits with an uncontested layup and a pair of free throws with three and a half minutes left. The Mountaineer lead never fell below double digits from that point on. WVU finished with a 12-2 home record this season. Glory-less Georgetown is 6-5 in road games. The Mountaineers currently sit in third place in the conference standings. They visit Villanova Saturday for the season finale. Some writers have the Mountaineers tagged as darkhorse title contenders in the NCAA tournament. It’s true the massive Mountaineer front line is explosive. WVU can punish and overwhelm most teams. They have been ranked high all year long but are also prone to giving up too many points early. WVU won’t have a lengthy tournament stay if they dig themselves a hole against top opponents.

Parting Points: I am very happy for Syracuse landing the number one ranking this week. However, as Jayhawks fan, I am disappointed Kansas dropped out of the top spot.

“Tomorrow never knows what it doesn’t know too soon”- Oasis’ “Morning Glory”