Top 25: West Virginia survives Trae Young’s 32 points to beat Oklahoma

NORMAN, Okla. – Lamont West scored 17 points, and No. 19 West Virginia survived a 32-point night from Oklahoma’s Trae Young to escape with a 75-73 win over the 17th-ranked Sooners on Monday night.

Esa Ahmad and Sagaba Konate each scored 14 and Jevon Carter added 10 points, eight assists and six steals for the Mountaineers (18-6, 7-4 Big 12), who swept the regular-season series and moved within a half-game of conference co-leaders Kansas and Texas Tech.

Young, the freshman who leads the nation in scoring and assists, had just one assist.

Brady Manek scored 12 points and Khadeem Lattin had 13 rebounds and four blocks for the Sooners (16-7, 6-5).

Rashard Odomes made a layup to cut West Virginia’s lead to 74-73 with 24.3 seconds to play. Oklahoma struggled to get the ball upcourt after Ahmad made one of two free throws with 13 seconds remaining, and Odomes missed under duress in close in the final seconds.

Carter sliced through Oklahoma’s defense for a layup at the first-half buzzer to give West Virginia a 50-40 lead. The Mountaineers shot 57 percent from the field and made 8 of 13 3-pointers before the break. Young scored 17 points in the first half and had just one turnover, but the Sooners couldn’t stop the Mountaineers.

Oklahoma held the Mountaineers scoreless for more than five minutes to start the second half and closed the deficit to 50-45. West Virginia got it going again, and a dunk by Konate put the Mountaineers up by 11.

Young hit two 3-pointers to help the Sooners cut West Virginia’s lead to 63-57 midway through the second half. He made a layup that nearly hit the top of the backboard to get the Sooners within 66-63, and the game was close the rest of the way.