WVU tops Pitt by 14 in rematch

Penn State has Wisconsin and Indiana looming this week.

ASSOCIATED PRESS

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Joe Alexander matched a career-high with 32 points as West Virginia avenged an earlier defeat with a 76-62 win over rival Pittsburgh Monday.

The Panthers beat West Virginia 55-54 Feb. 7 on a last-second 3-pointer.

Alexander made sure it wasn’t that close this time, using a series of jumpers and moves in the paint to match the 32 points he scored in a 79-71 loss to No. 15 Connecticut Saturday.

With West Virginia ahead 40-30, Alexander scored six consecutive points in the paint to give the Mountaineers a 47-30 edge just two minutes into the second half.

West Virginia’s lead ballooned to as much as 65-42 with nine minutes left on Alex Ruoff’s 3-pointer and Darris Nichols’ driving lay-up. Pitt never got closer than 15 points after that.

Nichols and Ruoff added 17 points for West Virginia.

Pitt was led by Levance Fields’ 15 points. Sam Young added 13.

Pitt was outrebounded 35-30 and never appeared comfortable challenging inside, allowing 30 points in the paint.

West Virginia (21-9, 10-7 Big East) moved into sixth place in the Big East ahead of Pitt (21-9, 9-8).

Penn St. looks to play spoiler

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — Two straight wins have Penn State back at .500 for the season, no small feat given the fact that the team has been without its best player for six weeks.

Tough games loom this week against No. 10 Wisconsin and No. 18 Indiana to close out the regular season, but coach Ed DeChellis wants his team to continue to think big.

In fact, he wants them to think about playing “a spoiler role” in the Big Ten conference race.

“If we can do that, we can move ourselves up a little and give ourselves some momentum going into the conference tournament,” DeChellis said before practice Monday.

Penn State (14-14, 6-10) is seventh in the Big Ten heading into Wednesday night’s game at Wisconsin.

A win at Madison coupled with a victory Sunday at home against Indiana would strengthen the Nittany Lions’ postseason resume and throw a wrench into the tight conference title race.

Leading scorer and rebounder Geary Claxton is watching from the bench after a season-ending knee injury in the Nittany Lions’ last meeting against Wisconsin, an 80-55 loss at home on Jan. 15.

Point guard Talor Battle has been making up for some of the scoring lost when Claxton went down.

The quick freshman injured his tailbone during a 28-point outburst last weekend against Michigan, though he’s expected to play at Wisconsin.