West Virginia loses to St. Louis
ST. LOUIS (AP) – Izik Ohanon scored 18 points and had nearly a perfect shooting day in his third game with Saint Louis, leading a 75-45 victory over West Virginia on Saturday. Ohanon, a 6-9 sophomore, was ineligible the first eight games because he played on a professional team in Israel. He totaled 10 points his first two games, both as a reserve, and again came off the bench against West Virginia (8-3).
Ohanon was 8-for-9 and added five rebounds and two assists in 22 minutes as Saint Louis (6-5) won its fifth straight at home after losing their first two of the season.
Marque Perry added 14 points and five rebounds, returning to form after missing all but one of 10 shots and being held to two points in a 65-48 loss at Kansas State on Thursday. Drew Diener added 12.
Saint Louis, in its final tuneup before starting Conference USA play, shot 56 percent after hitting only 36 percent at Kansas State.
Drew Schifino had 22 points on 10-of-16 shooting for West Virginia, which had won seven of its previous eight. Freshman center Kevin Pittsnogle, who averages 11.7 points, was scoreless on 0-for-4 shooting.
Saint Louis was in command from the start, working the ball for easy inside shots to take a 12-2 lead in the opening minutes. The Billikens had six layups and three dunks, all by Kenny Brown, to go ahead 30-18 at halftime.
A 9-2 run at the start of the second half, capped by Drew Diener’s 3-pointer with 16:27 left, put the game away at 39-20.
West Virginia’s point total was its worst of the season; the previous low was 59 points in a season-opening victory over Delaware State. The Mountaineers had almost no inside game, getting outrebounded 32-19, and didn’t shoot their first free throw until 16:05 remained.