West Virginia's Chase Harler, right, hugs Daxter Miles Jr. after West Virginia defeated Pittsburgh 69-60 in an NCAA college basketball game, Saturday, Dec. 9, 2017, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Keith Srakocic)

PITTSBURGH — Facing on the hardwood for the first time since the 2012 campaign, No. 18 West Virginia (9-1) went to the Peterson Event Center on the campus of the University of Pittsburgh and came away with a 69-60 victory.

The Mountaineers received a game-high 19 points from senior Jevon Carter to build their advantage in the overall series to 97-88.

But, as it usually is, it was far from easy.

“I think I told you before, they look at records and they look at scores and they thought they were going to come in here and have it easy,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said. “We weren’t focused enough. We came out walking around.

“I showed them film of the rivalry. I talked to them. I did everything I could do to help them understand the rivalry.”

Cold shooting and foul difficulties — which forced starters Jevon Carter, Daxter Miles Jr., and Wesley Harris to the bench — allowed the Panthers to overcome an 18-point, 45-27 deficit at the half and pull within two, 61-59, on a four-point play by freshman guard Marcus Carr.

However, Miles and Carter came back in to tally six of WVU’s final eight points to keep the Panthers at bay and send the Mountaineers back to Morgantown with their second win against a Power 5 team this week.

Joining Carter, who had a game-high nine assists as well as six rebounds, in double figures was Miles (15), Lamont West (13) and James Bolden (10). Sagaba Konate overcame his own foul problems to add eight points and four rebounds.

Chase Harler saw 19 minutes of action and led the team with four steals. Utilized mainly on WVU’s 1-3-1 zone defense, Harler added a rebound and an assist to his totals while going 0-for-1 from the field.

Pitt (5-5) was led by Ryan Luther’s 13 points. Carr and Shamiel Stevenson chipped in with 12 apiece as the Panthers saw their four game winning streak come to an end.

“We’re getting ready to go into the hardest league in the country,” Huggins said. “They shot 31 free throws to our nine, that’s ridiculous. They talk about changing the state of the game and then they do this.”

Two keys for WVU were to get sophomores West and Konate involved in the offense early, and often. And, they did just that as West canned back-to-back 3-pointers in the first 95 seconds while Konate added four points on a dunk and a pair of free throws as the Mountaineers jumped out to a 13-5 advantage.

Carter, the Big 12 Defensive Player of the Year last season, then took over on the offensive end scoring the first of his 17 first half points on a layup with 10:01 left before the intermission.

Defensively, the Mountaineers held their arch rivals without a field goal over the final 2:25 to head into the locker rooms leading by 18, 45-27.

The Panthers were able to keep the game somewhat close by going 15 of 21 shots from the free-throw line.

WVU takes some time away from the court as the Mountaineers won’t play again until they play host to Wheeling Jesuit in an exhibition game on Saturday, Dec. 16.

NOTES

∫ Saturday night’s victory gave WVU a sweep of its showdowns with the Panthers.

∫ Redshirt junior Zeke Moisey earned his third pin of the season at 125 pounds, as the WVU wrestling team topped No. 25 Pitt, 24-10, in the Backyard Brawl.

“Anytime you beat Pitt it’s a good day,” head coach Sammie Henson said. “We wanted to perform well. We knew that they had a tough team. We have a tough team. We concentrated on a lot of individual work with these guys this week. We followed the game plan, and it worked.”

∫ No. 10 WVU women’s basketball team used its balanced scoring attack and sound defense to pick up a 73-52 victory over the rival Panthers on Thursday night.

Boston College 89, No. 1 Duke 84

BOSTON (AP) — Ky Bowman finished with 30 points, 10 rebounds and nine assists to help Boston College beat top-ranked Duke 89-84 on Saturday and send the Blue Devils to their first loss of the season.

Jordan Chatman scored 22 for BC (7-3, 1-0 Atlantic Coast Conference), hitting four straight free throws in the final 16 seconds. The Eagles have won their last three games against the No. 1 team in The Associated Press Top 25.

Gary Trent Jr. scored 25 for Duke (11-1, 0-1 ACC).

Duke erased a 10-point deficit in the second half and led 79-75 with 3:30 to play. But Boston College scored 12 of the next 14 points, getting a pair of 3-pointers from Robinson. Duke’s Trevon Duvall drove to the basket to make it 83-81 with 31 seconds left, but then he was called for an intentional foul on Chatman as BC tried to dribble out the clock.

Chatman made both foul shots, and then with BC retaining possession he was fouled again and made two more.

No. 3 Michigan State 88, Southern Utah 64

EAST LANSING, Mich. (AP) — Miles Bridges, Nick Ward and Jaren Jackson each scored 17 points for Michigan State.

The Spartans (9-1) have won eight straight by double digits since losing to top-ranked Duke.

The Thunderbirds (5-4) had won three straight. They kept it relatively close at the Breslin Center for a while, trailing by just five points midway through the second half.

No. 5 Florida 66, No. 17 Cincinnati 60

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Chris Chiozza scored the final six points of the game and Florida snapped a three-game losing streak in the second game of the Never Forget Tribute Classic at the Prudential Center.

Chiozza put the Gators (6-3) ahead 62-60 with a drive across the lane with 1:12 to play.

The senior guard added two free throws with 20.1 seconds to go and he closed out the scoring with a fastbreak layup after a turnover by Cincinnati (7-2), which lost its second straight game.

Egor Koulechov had 21 points to lead Florida.

Backup guard Cane Broome had 15 points to lead Cincinnati.

No. 6 Wichita State 78, Oklahoma State 66

STILLWATER, Okla. (AP) — Landry Shamet scored a career-high 30 points for Wichita State.

Conner Frankamp scored 14 points and Darral Willis, Jr. added 12 for the Shockers (8-1), who made 12 of 26 3-point attempts and outrebounded the Cowboys 36-26.

Tavarius Shine scored a career-high 20 points and Mitchell Solomon added a career-best 17 for Oklahoma State (7-2).

No. 7 Texas A&M 73, Prairie View A&M 53

COLLEGE STATION, Texas (AP) — Junior guard Admon Gilder scored 14 points and Texas A&M overcame a sluggish start.

The Aggies (8-1) led 44-40 5 minutes into the second half before scoring the next 18 points over a 7-minute span to put away the game against the outmanned Panthers (2-7).

A&M forward Robert Williams had 16 rebounds.

Zachary Hamilton led the Panthers with 18 points.

No. 8 Kentucky 93, Monmouth 76

NEW YORK (AP) — Hamidou Diallo scored a season-high 23 points for Kentucky at Madison Square Garden.

Kentucky (8-1) won its sixth in a row. PJ Washington added 20 points, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander chipped in 15 and Nick Richards had 10.

Monmouth (3-7) has lost three straight. Deion Hammond led the Hawks with 19 and Micah Seaborn had 18.

No. 9 Notre Dame 92, Delaware 68

NEWARK, Del. (AP) — Bonzie Colson had 19 points and 12 rebounds to lead Notre Dame in coach Mike Brey’s return to Delaware.

Matt Farrell scored 24 points and TJ Gibbs had 21 to help the Fighting Irish (8-2) rebound from an 80-77 loss Tuesday to Ball State.

Brey returned to the Bob Carpenter Center for the first time since the end of his Delaware head coaching stint in 2000.

Kevin Anderson scored 23 points for the Blue Hens (4-6).

No. 13 Xavier 96, Colorado 69

CINCINNATI (AP) — Trevon Bluiett scored 25 points and J.P. Macura emerged from his slump by making his first six shots as Xavier completed a streak of non-conference payback wins.

The Musketeers (9-1) already had victories over Baylor and crosstown rival Cincinnati, which beat them last season, and they set a goal of completing the trilogy. Last season, they blew a nine-point lead in the second half and lost 68-66 at Colorado.

Namon Wright had 18 points for the Buffaloes (7-2).

Arkansas 95, No. 14 Minnesota 79

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. (AP) — Jaylen Barford scored 22 points and freshman Daniel Gafford added 16 on 8-of-8 shooting for Arkansas.

The victory is the first for the Razorbacks (7-2) over a Top 15 team since defeating No. 5 Texas A&M during the 2015-16 season, and it extends their home winning streak to eight games.

Jordan Murphy led Minnesota (8-3) with 20 points and 10 rebounds. The loss is the third in the last four games for the Golden Gophers.

No. 19 Seton Hall 90, VCU 67

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — Angel Delgado had 14 points and 13 rebounds for Seton Hall in the Never Forget Tribute Classic at the Prudential Center.

Myles Powell added five of his 17 points in a game-breaking 13-1 first-half run, Desi Rodriguez had 17 and Khadeen Carrington scored 13 for the Pirates (8-1), who have won four straight since being beaten at the buzzer by Rhode Island on Thanksgiving.

Justin Tillman had 14 of his 20 points in the second half to lead VCU (5-5), which suffered its biggest loss of the season.

No. 23 Baylor 105, Randall 82

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — Nuni Omot scored 30 points while Jo Lual-Acuil and freshman Tristan Clark notched double-doubles to lead Baylor at Fort Hood.

Lual-Acuil had 19 points and 16 rebounds, Clark added 16 points and 11 boards and King McClure scored 23 for the Bears (7-2), who had lost two straight games.

Trey Sneed scored 29 points and Xavier Hunter added 23 for Randall (5-9).

No. 24 Tennessee 81, Lipscomb 71

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Grant Williams overcame early foul trouble to score 19 points in Tennessee’s first game as a ranked team since December 2010.

Tennessee (7-1) won its fourth straight.

Garrison Mathews had 19 of his 22 points in the second half for Lipscomb (6-4).