Sophomore KJ Lewis came off the bench to score a career-high 21 points as visiting Arizona toppled No. 21 West Virginia 75-56 Tuesday night in Morgantown, W.Va.
Jaden Bradley provided 15 points and five assists while Anthony Dell’Orso added 10 points for Arizona (9-5, 3-0 Big 12), which won its fifth straight and avenged a loss to West Virginia six weeks ago in the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament.
The Wildcats took an early lead and held it throughout to snap a seven-game winning streak for the Mountaineers (11-3, 2-1), who were ranked in Monday’s AP Top 25 poll for the first time since December 2022.
Freeing its offense with ball screens, Arizona consistently earned quality shots. The Wildcats made 50.8 percent of their attempts from the floor and were 7 of 20 (35 percent) from 3-point range.
Arizona also owned a 36-22 edge in points in the paint and outrebounded West Virginia 40-31.
Big 12 scoring leader Javon Small produced 17 points, six rebounds and five assists for the Mountaineers, who made 36.2 percent of their shots, including 8 of 29 (27.6 percent) from deep.
West Virginia’s best surge came early in the second half after it fell behind by 15 points. Small hit a 3-pointer and Sencire Harris followed with two more treys to key a nine-point spurt as the Mountaineers whittled the deficit to 48-43 with 14:14 to play.
But the Wildcats soon pulled away for good behind Lewis, who scored seven points during an 11-0 run that expanded the lead to 64-47 midway through the second half. West Virginia never got closer than 12 the rest of the way.
Lewis, who opened the season as a starter but was later demoted, made 9 of 12 shots from the floor to surpass his previous career high of 18 points.
Arizona trailed by three early on before Trey Townsend, Bradley and Dell’Orso each hit a 3-pointer to put the Wildcats in front for good at 11-8.
Late in the first half, Arizona capitalized on a string of seven straight misses by the Mountaineers to rattle off eight straight points. Caleb Love scored the final four points of that burst, which put the Wildcats up 35-22 with 2:30 left until halftime.
A jumper by Lewis in the final minute of the half gave Arizona a 39-28 lead at the break.
–Field Level Media
