It was seven minutes past

It was seven minutes past
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP)—Da’Sean Butler scored 18 points, Kevin Jones added 16and No. 6 West Virginia never trailed in beating No. 22 Pittsburgh 70-51 onWednesday night.

West Virginia (18-3, 7-2 Big East) used a steady diet of 3-pointers and fedoff the energy of the third-largest home crowd in school history and thesuccessful debut of suspended freshman Deniz Kilicli to earn its fifth straightwin.

Pittsburgh (16-6, 6-4) shot an abysmal 30 percent from the field, made justsix field goals after halftime and was held to its second-lowest scoring totalof the season.

Jones scored seven points during a 15-4 run as West Virginia started pullingaway after the Panthers had gotten within 43-41 with 13 minutes remaining.

Jermaine Dixon returned from an injury to lead Pittsburgh with 13 points.Ashton Gibbs added 11 points but second-leading scorer Brad Wanamaker was heldscoreless on 0-of-4 shooting.

The Panthers have dropped four of five conference games after starting 5-0in the league and reaching the Top 10.

Kilicli provided a spark in his first action of the season after sitting outan NCAA-imposed 20 games for playing on a team in his native Turkey thatincluded a professional player.

The 6-foot-9 Kilicli went 3 of 3 from the field and scored seven points in 4minutes in the first half. The capacity crowd gave him a standing ovation whenhe entered the game and was mobbed by his teammates when he came out a fewminutes later. He finished with nine points in 7 minutes.

Butler’s 3-pointer put West Virginia ahead by double digits 4 minutes afterhalftime before Pittsburgh mounted a comeback.

Little-used freshman J.J. Richardson scored five points in the span of aminute and Pittsburgh pulled within 43-41 with 12:51 left. His previous seasonhigh was 2 points.

The Panthers got no closer.

West Virginia coach Bob Huggins grabbed a microphone and addressed the fansa short time later after several objects were thrown on the court, telling thecrowd “That’s stupid.”

A few minutes later, as the officials were reviewing on the courtside TV ascuffle under the basket involving Pitt’s Gary McGhee and two West Virginiaplayers, Pittsburgh assistant coach Tom Herrion was hit with what appeared to bea coin under his right eye. Huggins could be seen asking Herrion, who had avisible bruise under the eye, about it after the game.

West Virginia responded with its decisive run. Butler, Jones and DarrylBryant hit 3-pointers and West Virginia pulled ahead 56-43 with 6:31 remaining.

The Mountaineers made 5 of 10 shots from beyond the arc after halftime andclinched its second straight win over the Panthers by going 10 of 10 from thefree-throw line in the final 5 minutes.