PORTLAND, Ore. — Tre Mitchell scored 17 points and grabbed eight rebounds, Erik Stevenson added 15 points and West Virginia beat Florida 84-55 Sunday night in the Phil Knight Legacy tournament’s fifth-place game.
Stevenson made 6 of 8 from the field, including 3 of 4 from 3-point range, and had seven rebounds.
Emmitt Matthews Jr. scored 13 points and Mohamed Wague had eight points and nine rebounds for West Virginia (6-1).
Kyle Lofton — the only Florida player to score in double figures — had 17 points. The Gators (4-3) shot 34% (20 of 58) from the field, hit 2 of 17 (12%) from 3-point range, made 13 of 22 (58%) from the free-throw line and were outrebounded 49-28.
Mitchell converted a tie-breaking three-point play to spark a 12-1 run that made it 24-13 with 11:54 to go in the first half and the Mountaineers led by double figures until Lofton scored all Florida’s points in a 7-2 spurt that trimmed the Gators’ deficit to 41-33 at halftime.
Matthews hit a 3-pointer to open the second half and added back-to-back baskets about three minutes later before Joe Toussaint made a jumper that made it 56-35 with 15:52 to play and Florida got no closer the rest of the way.
The Mountaineers ended a four-game losing streak against Florida with the victory.
Up next
West Virginia visits Xavier on Saturday.
