By PAUL GOTHAM
BUFFALO, N.Y. — Five different players scored during a 15-2 run midway through the first half, and the West Virginia Mountaineers took a 42-33 lead over the Bucknell Bison into the locker room in the first round of the NCAA Tournament’s West Region at the Key Bank Center, Thursday.
Nathan Adrian broke a 10-10 with a bucket off an inbound play. Dexter Miles, Jr. converted on another inbound play as the Mountaineers converted on four straight baseline out-of-bounds plays.
Kimbal Mackenzie scored seven straight for Bucknell as the Bison cut the lead to four at 29-25. Bucknell stayed within four at 33-29 when Mackenzie scored on the break.
But WVU outscored Bucknell 9-4 going into the break.
Bucknell’s Nana Foulland leads all scorers with 13 points on five of seven shooting from the floor and three of four from the free throw line.
Adrian and Lamont West scored 10 apiece for West Virginia.
Adrian hauled in five rebounds, and the Mountaineers have a 22-17 advantage on the boards at half.
WVU has outscored Bucknell in the paint (24-20), off turnovers (8-5) and second-chance points (7-4). WVU’s bench has outscored its counterparts 20-2.
Bucknell has an 11-2 advantage in fast break points.
The winner will play Notre Dame on Saturday. The Fighting Irish held on to beat Princeton, 60-58 in the first game of the day at Key Bank Center.
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