Marshall Thundering Herd vs West Virginia Mountaineers Match Player Stats On Mar 18, 2018

Senior guard Javon Carter stuffed the stat sheet with a game-high 28 points, five assists, four rebounds and four steals Sunday night as fifth-seeded West Virginia routed 13th-seeded Marshall 94-71 in the final second-round game of the NCAA Tournament at Viejas Arena in San Diego.

Lamont West came off the bench to add 18 points and 10 rebounds for the Mountaineers, who advance to the East Region semifinals Friday night in Boston to meet top-seeded Villanova. West Virginia (26-10) is one of nine teams seeded fifth or higher to reach the Sweet 16.

James Bolden hit for 11 points and Esa Ahmad contributed 10 for West Virginia, which canned 50 percent of its field-goal attempts and went 12 of 25 from 3-point range.

Ajdin Penava paced the Thundering Herd (25-11) with 18 points, six rebounds and six assists. Jon Elmore scored 15 but also committed eight of Marshall's 18 turnovers and made just 4 of 12 shots from the floor. C.J. Burks tallied 12 points but made only 3 of 15 shots.

After ending a 31-year absence from the NCAA Tournament with a shock win over fourth-seeded Wichita State on Friday, Marshall was hoping to bounce its in-state neighbor, located just over 200 miles northeast of Huntington.

With Marshall graduate and West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice in the audience, wearing a blue and green sport coat to honor both schools, West Virginia took charge after the Thundering Herd opened up a seven-point lead less than seven minutes into the game.

Trailing 20-15 after Darius George's layup at the 10:52 mark, the Mountaineers rattled off 19 consecutive points and never looked back. West's 3-pointer with 10:15 remaining before halftime gave West Virginia the lead for good at 21-20.

Marshall was blanked for 5:36 during the Mountaineers' run, its offense completely blanketed by West Virginia's pressure defense and its defense unable to contain the savvy Carter. A driving layup by Carter with a second before halftime gave the Mountaineers a 42-25 cushion at the break.

Teddy Allen's stick-back less than five minutes into the second half increased the margin to 25, and the gap later reached 31 with six minutes left before reserves flooded the floor.

--Field Level Media