West Virginia takes control early, cruises past Cincinnati

Javon Small scored 14 of his 19 points in the first half and Joseph Yesufu added 16 to lead visiting West Virginia past Cincinnati 63-50 on Sunday afternoon in Big 12 action at Cincinnati.

Small, the leading scorer in the conference at 19.0 points per game, was 4 of 7 from 3-point range for West Virginia (14-7, 5-5 Big 12), which shot 49.0 percent from the field to snap a three-game losing streak.

Day Day Thomas scored 10 points for Cincinnati (12-9, 2-8), which lost its fourth straight game. After starting the season 10-1 and a ranked as high as No 14, the Bearcats lost eight of 10.

With both teams on three-game losing streaks, West Virginia came out with the greater sense of urgency and execution.

The Mountaineers used a 14-2 run midway through the first half to build a 25-13 lead with 8:16 remaining before halftime.

West Virginia took advantage of nine turnovers by the Bearcats in the first half while turning them into 10 points.

Yesufu capped West Virginia's dominant first half by knocking down a wide open 3-pointer with four seconds remaining to give the Mountaineers a 40-25 halftime lead.

Cincinnati was within 45-33 on a pair of Rayvon Griffith free throws with 14:03 remaining but West Virginia responded with a 14-4 spurt, capped by a pair of Yesufu 3-pointers to build a 59-37 lead with 7:47 remaining.

Cincinnati committed 14 total turnovers after entering with a streak of four straight games of single-digit turnovers. West Virginia had 13 turnovers that led to 13 Cincinnati points.

--Field Level Media