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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — West Virginia flipped the statistics on Virginia Tech Tuesday, easily out-shooting the Hokies from 3-point range.
Juwan Staten scored 18 points and Gary Browne added 12 as No. 17 West Virginia routed Virginia Tech 82-51 Tuesday.
The Mountaineers shot almost 42 percent from beyond the arc, while the Hokies barely reached 29 percent from 3. Coming in, Virginia Tech led the Atlantic Coast Conference in 3-point shooting (41.5 percent). West Virginia was last in the Big 12 at 30 percent.
Staten made 3 of 4 from beyond the arc. Browne hit both his 3-point shots.
"I think we have a bunch of guys who are capable of making them on any given day," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "We have some guys who are not capable of making them, too, so we try to go with the guys who are making shots."
The victory gives the Mountaineers (12-1) their best record since 2009-10 when Huggins' Final Four team achieved the same record.
Adam Smith and Satchel Pierce led Virginia Tech (8-5) with 10 points each.
After leading 33-30 at halftime, the Mountaineers came out with a barrage of 3-pointers. Browne and Staten each hit of a pair in a 15-4 run to give their team a 48-34 lead with 16:03 left.
"Gary (Browne) hit some big ones, he hit some big ones for us in the last game as well," Huggins said. "He has spent a lot of time in the gym, and he needs to keep spending time in the gym."
Browne's jumper and Staten's work represented all but one of the 15 points scored by the team in the first four minutes of the second period.
The Mountaineers knocked down five of their first six attempts from beyond the line after the half and led 57-39 with 11:36 left. They finished 10 of 24 from 3-point range.
West Virginia's largest lead of the game came at the end of a 20-2 run to make it 77-43 with 4:40 remaining. Virginia Tech went just over five minutes without scoring during that stretch.
TIP-INS
West Virginia: Coming in, Staten and Browne had both been off the mark from long range. Staten had connected on just 30 percent (6 of 20) and Browne knocked in 38 percent (8 of 21).
Virginia Tech: Coach Buzz Williams didn't dance Tuesday. When his former Marquette team beat the Mountaineers 61-60 on Feb. 12, 2012, he danced a jig across the Mountaineers' WV logo in the middle of the floor to the tune of the pep band's rendition of "Country Roads" on his way to a postgame TV interview.
He entered the Coliseum to a smattering of boos Tuesday, but WVU coaches Huggins and Larry Harrison met him with hugs and smiles.
Afterward, he added: "Some of those kids, I don't even know if they were on varsity the last time I was here when I had a lapse in maturity," Williams said. "They can Google it and figure it out."
RIVALRY
The margin of victory for West Virginia was the biggest in this 78-game series since 1989, when the Mountaineers routed their border rivals 101-52. WVU has a 48-30 overall advantage in the record book, though Virginia Tech won in Blacksburg last season. West Virginia has won eight of the last 12.
NEXT UP
West Virginia: travels to TCU on Saturday to start Big 12 play.
Virginia Tech: hosts Syracuse on Saturday to start ACC play.
TURNING IT OVER
West Virginia forced 25 turnovers, which led to 37 points.
"(Our pressure) better bother everyone we play or we aren't going to be very good. That's what we do, Higgins said.
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