MORGANTOWN, W. Va. (AP) — Jesse Edwards made a resounding return to the starting lineup with a 25-point, 10-rebound effort and for once a fully healthy West Virginia squad beat Cincinnati 69-65 on Wednesday night.
The game became even more noteworthy when Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins showed up. Huggins resigned last June at West Virginia following a drunken driving arrest. He took Cincinnati to the Final Four in 1992 and West Virginia in 2010. It was the first meeting between Cincinnati and West Virginia in 12 years. The two schools were once rivals in the Big East Conference.
As for court action, Edwards finished 11-for-17 shooting in his first start since missing more than a month due to a wrist injury. He came off the bench in the Mountaineers’ 70-66 loss on Saturday at Oklahoma State.
Quinn Slazinski scored 15 points for West Virginia. RaeQuan Battle and Kerr Kriisa each scored 10 points on just 2-for-6 shooting apiece.
Reserve Dan Skillings Jr. led Cincinnati with 15 points on 6-for-19 shooting. Simas Lukosius scored 13 and Day Day Thomas 12 for the Bearcats, which made just 25 of 66 (37.9%) shots.
Lukosius made a 3-pointer with 1:29 left to give Cincinnati (14-7, 3-5 Big 12) a 63-62 lead. But Battle responded with a 3 14 seconds later and West Virginia (8-13, 3-5) led the remainder.
The Bearcats — losers of five of seven — will enter the Big 12 gauntlet when they travel to face No. 15 Texas Tech on Saturday. Cincinnati gets a week off before traveling to No. 4 Houston on Feb. 10. The Bearcats then host No. 12 Iowa State on Feb. 13.
West Virginia hosts 22nd-ranked BYU on Saturday.
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