WVU Men's Basketball hosts Wheeling Jesuit University at the Coliseum Saturday, Dec. 16, 2017.

MORGANTOWN–Wheeling Central great Chase Harler, Cameron alum Logan Routt and Magnolia graduate Preston Boswell provided some instant classics on the hardwood against each other throughout their high school careers.

Those good old days were reborn on Saturday inside the West Virginia University Coliseum as the Mountaineers hosted Wheeling Jesuit in a mid-season exhibition game.

Harler and Routt, now key members for the nation’s 11th ranked Mountaineers welcomed Boswell and the Cardinals in what turned out to be a 98-50 triumph in favor of West Virginia.

“It was cool to have me, Chase and Boswell on the floor at the same time,” Routt said. “It brings back a lot of memories from our section. We had some great battles, so it was cool to do that again.”

Routt delivered a solid performance with 10 rebounds and seven points to go along with three steals and a pair of blocks.

“I feel like I was able to get in the game and do some good things to help me stay in the game,” Routt said. “I did some work while I was in there and I will keep building on the little things.

“The more I play, the slower the game gets. In my first action, the game was moving really fast. Now, I really focus and look to do the simple things.”

Harler led the Mountaineers in playing time with 25 minutes. He turned in three points and three rebounds in the win, while Boswell finished the game with four points and four rebounds.

Haywood Highsmith paced the Cardinals with a double-double that included 22 points and 10 boards. Jeremiah Wilson also had a solid day for Jesuit with his 15 points and eight rebounds.

The mid-season exhibition came at a great time for West Virginia, which has 11 days between regular season games and opens BIG 12 action on Dec. 12 at Oklahoma State.

“You play against the same guy every day and the same guy fouls you every day,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said. “You know what he is going to do and he knows what you are going to do. We didn’t need to go that long at this point in time without being able to play against somebody else.”

From a player perspective, it was a different feeling playing in an exhibition 10 games into the season but the change of pace was good for everyone involved.

“It was a little weird to have an exhibition in mid-season,” Routt said. “But (Huggins) told us it’s better to have them come in and give us a chance to practice against other people. We all get tired of going hard against each other everyday in practice, especially in the middle of the season, so it is nice to go out there and just have some practice against another team.

“They are a really good Division II team and they are always in the top 10 in the country. They shoot the ball well and it was good to go against them instead of just playing against ourselves.”

Wheeling Jesuit did not get on the scoreboard until the 15:22 mark of the first half with WVU leading 14-2.

The Cards cut the deficit to just seven points at 30-23 with 7:40 left in the half but the Mountaineers ended the half on a 17-7 run to create a 47-30 cushion at the break.

“We might have taken them a little lightly in the beginning,” Routt said. “We didn’t come out as hard as we needed to. Coach gave us a little yell and pep talk at halftime, so we got it straightened out coming out of halftime.

“We definitely played a better second half energy-wise. Anytime we play with energy, it definitely helps our performance.”

West Virginia dominated the second half by a 51-20 count but Huggins had nothing but praise for coach Danny Sancomb and his Cardinals.

“I think they are very well coached,” Huggins said. “They play really hard.

“Sometimes you just get swallowed up by size and we have pretty good size. Every time you turn around, you’re looking up at someone and that makes it harder to pass and harder to make a shot. It really takes you out of your rhythm but they played hard.

“You hear so much about the pressure that they kind of come in very tentative and once they stopped being tentative, I thought they did a good job against our pressure.”

Teddy Allen was the high-scorer for WVU with 19 points, followed by Lamont West and Wesley Harris with 16 each.

West Virginia’s top scorer this season, Jevon Carter, did not attempt a shot and finished with two points, coming from the free-throw line.

Gannon Beats Buzzer to Edge WJU

WHEELING — After a furious fourth-quarter comeback, Wheeling Jesuit saw it winning hopes dashed. Nicole LaCava picked up the ball and saw her top-of-the-key shot fall through the net at the buzzer and gave Gannon a 79-77 victory over the Cardinals women.

Down seven with 2:12 left, Monica Burns and Mariah Callen hit back-to-back 3-pointers and a Chenelle Moore curling layup gave WJU (4-7) its first lead, 77-76, with 16 seconds on the clock. Gannon (6-5) converted 1 of 2 free throws to tie the contest with 10.3 seconds left. After a Cardinals offensive foul call with 2 seconds left, the Lady Knights advanced the ball on a timeout to set up the LaCava game-winner, which fell through the net as the red lights lit the backboard.

Burns pumped in a Cardinals-high 19 points on 7 of 12 shooting, including 4 of 7 from long-range. Callen added 17 points on 6 of 11 from the floor with three 3-pointers, three assists and three steals. Moore posted another double-double of 11 points and 13 rebounds.

Both Cassi Stein and Lauren Lipscomb chipped in eight points.

Gannon’s Maggie Mitchell hardly missed as she was 9 of 11 with three 3-pointers and 23 points. Chelsea Rourke had 19 points.

Gannon scored seven-straight points late in the opening frame before a Kiara Wade, who had seven points and four boards, 3-point play made it 24-15.

The Lady Knights did push it back to a dozen with a Sydney Mitchell triple as time ran out of the second quarter, 39-27.

Trailing by 12 points after three quarters, Mariah Callen willed WJU (4-7) back to within four points, 61-57, in the first two minutes of the fourth with a 3-point play, a layup, an assist and a third bucket.