Floyd’s 25 points help send West Virginia past Mount St. Mary’s for win No. 1 in Hodge era

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Jasper Floyd scored 25 points shooting 9 of 13 and West Virginia pulled away from Mount St. Mary’s for a 70-54 win to usher in the Ross Hodge era in a season-opener for both teams on Tuesday night.

Honor Huff scored 16 points and Brenen Lorient scored 11 and grabbed 13 rebounds for West Virginia.

Trey Deveaux scored 15 points for Mount St. Mary’s, which owned a 38-29 rebounding advantage.

Justin Amadi’s three-point play with 5:55 left in the first half gave Mount St. Mary’s a 25-22 lead. Huff responded with a 3-pointer to tie it and that helped prompt West Virginia on a 13-4 run to close the half.

Starting the second half with a 35-29 lead, West Virginia outscored Mount St. Mary’s 12-6 over the first six-and-a-half minutes for a 52-39 advantage. Mount St. Mary’s went on a 7-0 run to get within 52-46 but never got closer.

Hodge, who was hired in March, spent the last eight seasons at North Texas, including the last two as head coach, posting a 46-23 (.667) record.

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