West Virginia vs. Drexel Basketball: Edwards Leads Mountaineers to Victory

2023-12-09 23:50:04

Jesse Edwards scored 16 points to help West Virginia hold off Drexel 66-60 on Saturday.

Edwards made 7 of 10 shots and grabbed five rebounds for the Mountaineers (4-5). Quinn Slazinski finished with 14 points and six rebounds. Seth Wilson came off the bench to score 11 points with five assists.

Justin Moore scored 20 to lead the Dragons (5-5). Moore sank 9 of 18 shots with two 3-pointers and had four rebounds, four assists and three steals. He also had six of Drexel’s 17 turnovers. The miscues led to 22 points for West Virginia. Amari Williams totaled 12 points and 15 rebounds for his third double-double this season.

Moore made 4 of 5 shots with a 3-pointer to guide Drexel to a 33-31 lead at halftime. Slazinski had 11 points and Wilson hit three 3-pointers and scored nine to keep West Virginia close.

Josiah Harris opened the second half with a dunk and Kobe Johnson followed with a layup to give West Virginia its first lead of the game at 35-33. Moore hit a 3-point to pull Drexel even at 48 with 13:18 left to play. Neither team scored again until a Wilson layup gave the Mountaineers the lead with 9:20 remaining. Harris followed with a dunk and West Virginia stayed in front from there.

West Virginia was coming off back-to-back losses to former Big East rivals St. John’s and Pittsburgh. Blake Hinson made nine 3-pointers as the Panthers sank 16 to tie a WVU Coliseum record in an 80-63 victory.

Drexel, which hadn’t played at West Virginia since 1980, is coached by Morgantown native Zach Spiker. Spiker’s father, John, was the athletic trainer for the Mountaineers’ football team for 40 years before retiring in 2015 with an induction into the West Virginia Sports Hall of Fame following in 2017.

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