College hoops: Men’s Top 25 roundup
Published 11:43 pm Friday, February 13, 2009
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Da’Sean Butler scored a career-high 43 points to lead West Virginia — including 24 in the first half — as the Mountaineers (17-8, 6-6 Big East) built a 20-point lead en route to their first win this season against a team in the top half of the conference standings.
Devin Ebanks added 16 for West Virginia, which led 52-34 at halftime.
Villanova (20-5, 8-4) trimmed the deficit 13 points in the second half, but the Mountaineers went on to snap the Wildcats’ six-game win streak. Corey Fisher had 17 points to lead Villanova.
Butler became the first West Virginia player to score 40 points in a game since Lowes Moore in a win over Notre Dame in 1978.
INDIANAPOLIS — Matt Howard had 19 points and eight rebounds, Gordon Hayward finished with 18 points and No. 15 Butler (22-2, 13-1 Horizon League) hit 13 3-pointers to win its sixth straight in the series and its 16th in a row at home.
The Flames (11-14, 4-11) were led by Josh Mayo with 19 points, but lost for the sixth time in seven games. They fell into a 25-8 hole midway through the first half and never got closer than seven.
Illinois-Chicago played without coach Jimmy Collins, who was in Syracuse, N.Y., attending the funeral of his mother, Lorraine Collins Trapp. Assistant coach Mark Coomes replaced Collins on the sideline.
