Dec 21, 2019 4 min read

Marcus Weathers scored 14 of his career-high 22 points in the second half and Duke improved to 10-0 with an 86-77 win over Austin Peay on Saturday in the St. Pete Shootout.

Sincere Carry added 16 points for the Dukes, who are off to the best start since the 1953-54 team went 22-0. That team reached No. 1 in February of 1954 and featured Sid Dambrot, father of current head coach Keith Dambrot, as a guard.

Tavian Dunn-Martin scored 13 points, Maceo Austin had 12 and Baylee Steele 11 of the bench for the Dukes, who shot 51% and made 30 of 24 from the foul line.

Carry scored 14 points in the first half to help Duquesne open a 45-36 lead and then the Dukes got a three-point play from Weathers and a 3-pointer from Austin to make it 51-36 barely a minute into the second half.

An 8-0 run, with a pair of 3s from Jordyn Adams, cut the lead to six. Late in the second half, Duquesne missed seven straight shots and the Governors made seven to close the gap to 63-58 with seven minutes left. Weathers scored consecutive baskets to stop the rally but Austin Peay kept battling back before Duquense would come up with a big play. Austin made four free throws in the final minute to ice the win and remain one of four undefeated Division I teams.

West Virginia 75, Youngstown State 64: West Virginia’s Oscar Tshiebwe and Derek Culver had a happy homecoming.

Tshiebwe scored 19 points and Derek Culver added 15 as No. 25 West Virginia overcame scrappy Youngstown State for a 75-64 victory Saturday.

West Virginia (10-1) scored the final eight points to seal its third straight win since its only loss against St. John’s at Madison Square Garden. The Mountaineers were playing as a ranked team for the first time this season.

The inside duo of Tshiebwe and Culver eventually proved to be too much for upset-mind Youngstown State (7-6), which led by seven points early in the second half.

Culver also had seven rebounds and seven assists and Tshiebwe pulled down six rebounds. Culver grew up just a short walk from the Covelli Centre. Tshiebwe, a native of Congo, attended high school at Kennedy Catholic in nearby Sharon, Pennsylvania.

Culver, who estimated 80 family and friends were in the stands, admitted some nerves ahead of the game. Tshiebwe had a cheering section behind one of the baskets.

“The game was all I kept thinking about in the hotel room this morning,” Culver said. “My hands were sweaty.

“I came out for warmups and saw so many people I haven’t seen a long time and that was great. About two minutes into the game, the nerves went away and it was just another game.”

Tshiebwe found another reason beyond the win to celebrate.

“It’s good to be home for Christmas,” he said, with a smile.

West Virginia had five players score in double figures. Jermaine Haley and Miles McBride each had 11 and Taz Sherman finished with 10.

Youngstown State’s Darius Quisnenbery led all scorers with 22 points. Garrett Covington added 11 points and Naz Bohannon had 13 rebounds.

After falling behind 42-35 in the first two minutes of the second half, West Virginia outscored Youngstown State 23-9 to move in front 58-51 on Tshiebwe’s lay-in with 9:52 to go.

West Virginia increased its lead to 65-57 on Sherman’s 3-pointer with 5:10 left. Youngstown State got within 67-64 with 2:11 left on a pair of Quisenberry free throws but the Mountaineers went on a game-ending 8-0 run.

“We’ve been tested before this season,” Haley said. “We know what it takes to get it done at the end of games.”

The Penguins led 38-35 at halftime.

“West Virginia plays as tough an any team in the country,” Youngstown State coach Jerrod Calhoun said. “We wanted to outhustle them, out-tough them and I thought we did. I’m really proud of our guys.”

With a rare visit from a Power Five conference team, Youngstown State played the game off campus at the Covelli Centre.

West Virginia coach Bob Huggins and Calhoun are familiar with each other. Calhoun was an assistant for Huggins at Cincinnati and West Virginia.

Youngstown State played at West Virginia last season and will make the trip to Morgantown next season.

West Virginia made just 50 percent of its free throws, connecting on 10 of 20. That didn’t sit well with Huggins.

“Usually poor free throwing shooting is an indication of a team that is disengaged,” Huggins said. “We were disengaged for a long time and give Youngstown State credit because they took the fight to us more than we took the fight to them.”