Mountaineers win easy in season opener

Former West Virginia star forward Da'Sean Butler was welcomed back to the WVU Coliseum Friday for the Mountaineers' game against Oakland with a roaring applause from the largest crowd to ever watch a WVU season opener.

WVU didn't even need Butler's sharp-shooting prowess to pound the Golden Grizzlies 95-71 in front of 12,707 fans. The Mountaineers used their own consistent outside shooting in the first half to halt any talk of an "upset alert" against Oakland. It was the most points scored against the Grizzlies since Dec. 12, 2007.

"We knew that the first five minutes of the game were going to dictate the game. We went out there and attacked them," said WVU forward Kevin Jones. "They couldn't really come back after our fast start."

West Virginia took the Golden Grizzlies, which were coming off an NCAA Tournament bid and held an eight-game regular-season winning streak, seriously and posted 55 points in the first half.

It was the first time WVU scored more than 50 points in the first half since Feb. 13, 2009. It was the first time the Mountaineers scored that many in any half since Feb. 8 when they put up 57 in the second half against St. John's in a win.

"If you saw us yesterday (in practice), you would've said you'd never thought we'd have shot the ball as well as we did. It was awful," said WVU head coach Bob Huggins. "Then, we come out and make shots."

The Mountaineers shot 66.7 percent in the first half to take a 55-31 advantage heading into the locker room. That was all WVU would need to defeat Oakland.

Three players, guards Casey Mitchell, Truck Bryant and Jonnie West, scored 31 points in the first half. They converted on 7-of-8 3-pointers in the half.

"That was pretty much the ball game right there," West said.

Oakland kept it close early. With the game tied at 14, WVU went on a 41-17 run to end the half and take the big lead into the break.

In the second half, WVU was not as successful on offense. Yet, the Mountaineers were able to keep their lead. Oakland would cut WVU's lead to 15 points in the final 20 minutes, but WVU's balanced scoring attack would let them get no closer.

In total, six Mountaineers finished in double figures.

Forward John Flowers lead the Mountaineers with 16 points. He also had seven blocks and five rebounds. That was the most blocks by a WVU player since 2007. It's just the ninth time in WVU history a player has had seven blocks in a game.

Point guard Joe Mazzulla scored 15 points and had seven assists along with no turnovers.

Forward Deniz Kilicli, in his first start, had a double-double performance. He finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds.

Mitchell and Bryant had 12 points apiece, and guard Dalton Pepper finished with 10 points in just 10 minutes of play.

Oakland's athletic center Keith Benson scored 22 points and had 15 rebounds. He struggled in the first half, though, scoring just six points.

"We did a great job of pressuring him every time he caught it," Mazzulla said.

Three Oakland players fouled out before the four-minute mark in the second half. The Grizzlies shot just 31.4 percent from the field in the second half and turned the ball over 18 times in the game.

On the other hand, WVU had 20 assists and shot 50.8 percent for the game. The Mountaineers were also aided by 34 bench points.