West Virginia 62, Kansas 61

[February 17, 2015]  No. 22 West Virginia 62, No. 8 Kansas 61: Juwan Staten scored a game-high 20 points and hit the go-ahead layup with 3.9 seconds left as the Mountaineers upset the Jayhawks at home for the second straight season.

Freshman Jevon Carter added 13 points – including two critical 3-pointers late – and six rebounds for West Virginia (20-6, 8-5 Big 12), which had dropped three of its last four and entered Monday with a 2-5 mark against ranked opponents. Jonathan Holton contributed nine rebounds while Devin Williams chipped in with eight points for the Mountaineers.

Perry Ellis poured in 15 of his 19 points in the second half for Kansas (21-5, 10-3), which saw its lead over Iowa State atop the Big 12 fall to 1 ½ games. Frank Mason III had 18 points while Kelly Oubre Jr. tallied 14 points and seven boards for the Jayhawks.

West Virginia scored the first eight points and increased the margin to 11 twice midway through the first half, but Kansas used seven straight points from Oubre to forge within three at the break and a 3-pointer by the freshman during a 10-0 surge to begin the second half to open up a seven-point advantage. The Mountaineers turned to Staten for nine points during a 16-7 surge, tying it up at 49-49 with 8:43 remaining on a basket by Holton.

The lead changed hands four times over a one-minute span after Holton hit a free throw with 7:20 to go before Ellis accounted for eight points to stake Kansas to a 59-54 edge, but Carter drilled two 3-pointers on consecutive possessions. Mason answered with a driving layup with 2:16 left and the game remained scoreless for the next two minutes until Staten beat Kansas’ full-court pressure with a spinning layup and the Mountaineers survived a potential game-winning layup by Ellis on the other end.

GAME NOTEBOOK: West Virginia’s 22 offensive boards were seven more than it collected on the defensive end and marked the third time it has recorded that many offensive boards this season. … Kansas, which entered Monday leading the Big 12 in three-point field goal percentage (40.6), went 6-of-11 beyond the arc – including 5-of-7 in the second half. … The Mountaineers had lost their last four to Top 25 opponents by an average of 21 points.

[© 2015 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2015 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.