Senior Jones’ career night leads West Virginia to 97-62 over Alcorn State

The West Virginia men's basketball team used a career-best performance from senior Kevin Jones to carry it to a 97-62 victory over Alcorn State Thursday night.

Jones scored a career-high 29 points while grabbing 13 rebounds, including 10 offensive boards.

It's just the second time since Feb. 3, 1998, a West Virginia player had at least 10 offensive boards. The last time Kevin Jones had was 11 against Louisville on March 5, 2011.

At the 16:02 mark of the first half Jones pulled down his third offensive rebound, the 321st of his career, making him the all-time leader in program history. His previous career high in points was against Louisville last year when he scored 25 points, while he recorded 18 rebounds against Kent St., Tuesday.

"I just wanted to attack the offensive glass and defensive glass hard," Jones said. "I'm happy for the record, but I'm more happy for the win."

Jones scored a layup at 13:34 mark of the first half to catapult the Mountaineers on a 16-2 run to jump out to a 29-16 lead.

Freshman Paul Williamson hit his first of two three pointers during the run, for the first bucket in his career. He finished with seven points and two assists.

"Paul (Williamson) does what he's supposed to do," said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins. "Paul can make shots, and he's going to play hard."

West Virginia continued to lay it on the Braves, going on a 10-0 run in the final 1:24 of the first half to take a 44-28 lead into the locker room after 20 minutes.

The Mountaineers extended their lead after halftime, going on a 16-4 run capped off by a pair of Truck Bryant baskets and a Deniz Kilicli hook shot. Bryant would finish with 18 points, while recording four assists to zero turnovers. A game ago, Bryant had one assist to just one turnover.

"I was so mad and frustrated (last game). That was the worst I've played in my career," Bryant said. "It just feels good to win a game by a lot. It feels like we're starting to get in on the right track."

The Mountaineers shot 48.6 percent in the game, including 55.9 percent in the second half. Both Kilicli and freshman Jabarie Hinds had 10 points. Freshman Gary Browne had eight points and 12 rebounds.

West Virginia outrebounded the Braves 57 to 35.

"It wasn't just me and Deniz rebounding out there tonight, it was a big team effort," Jones said. "We need this throughout the season. We just need to keep getting better."

Redshirt freshman Kevin Noreen quietly put together his best game of his Mountaineer career with a 12-point and seven-rebound performance

Chris Brand and Marquiz Baker, who both scored 10 points, led Alcorn State.

The Braves shot just 35.5 percent from the field, including making just six of their 22 attempts from three-point range.