Mountaineers outscore RMU 50-21 in the second half to overcome sloppy first half

Bob Huggins turned to his bench just 24 seconds into the second half and yelled, "Give me five more."

The West Virginia head coach took out his entire lineup which consisted and replaced it with five bench players.

"When I looked out there and saw who was in, I wondered how we were going to score," Huggins said.

Instead, the Mountaineers had little trouble the rest of the way, responding to the change by going on a 50-18 run to close out the game, beating Robert Morris 82-49 Tuesday at the WVU Coliseum.

"All I said was give me five more guys, and whoever went in, went in," Huggins said. "I wanted to find somebody who was going to play the way we want to play."

The Mountaineers (6-2) had just a one-point advantage at the time of the mass substitution. Kevin Jones and Dan Jennings, came out in the change and didn't return for the remainder of the game, while Casey Mitchell only played three more seconds.

"We didn't make hard cuts, didn't pass the ball, didn't rebound the ball and just stood around in the first half," Huggins said. "I don't know about you guys, but I am tired of seeing it."

West Virginia finished with a 44-8 advantage in points in the paint against the much smaller Robert Morris squad.

But the Colonials troubled WVU in the first half, including taking a 18-17 lead with 8:13 left in the first half following a Karon Abraham free throw, provided by a Bob Huggins technical foul.

But the following the technical assigned to the coach, the Mountaineers never trailed again in the game.

"The reason coach Huggins got the technical was us," said Bryant, who finished with 12 points and six assists. "I was mad in the huddle, because he had to get a technical to try to get us going."

In the end, it was actually Huggins' mass substitutions that was the fuel behind a 21-2 run by the Mountaineers.

Center Deniz Kilicli led the charge, finishing with 12 second-half points to finish with a career-high 14 points. Despite missing time in the first half with an apparent hip injury, forward John Flowers also reached double-figure scoring, ending with 12 points on 5-of-5 shooting.

"In the second half, we just came out and got after them defensively," said guard Jonnie West. "We tried to be the team that we have been in the past."

The Mountaineers shot 55.8 percent from the field in the game including posting a 19-for-30 mark in the second half.

Robert Morris shot just 29.8 percent from the field.