Huff, Lorient lead West Virginia past No. 19 BYU, 79-71

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Honor Huff scored 19 points, Brenen Lorient added 18 and West Virginia led the entire second half and beat No. 19 BYU 79-71 on Saturday night.

DJ Thomas added 13 points and Jasper Floyd and Chance Moore had 11 apiece for the Mountaineers (17-12, 8-8 Big 12).

Robert Wright III scored 23 points and AJ Dybantsa added 20 for BYU (20-9, 8-8), which couldn’t make up a double-digit halftime deficit for the second straight game. The Cougars have lost two straight and eight of 12.

Keba Keita’s steal and layup brought BYU to 74-71 with 1:11 left. But the Cougars didn’t score again. BYU had two chances to tie it following steals, but turned the ball over on consecutive possessions.

West Virginia made 5 of 6 free throws the final 26 seconds. The Mountaineers broke a three-game losing streak and improved to 2-4 against AP Top 25 opponents.

West Virginia forced nine BYU turnovers in the first half and used a 20-5 run, including 11 points from Moore, to take a 40-26 halftime lead.

Dybantsa, who could be the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA draft, was limited to four points on 1-of-4 shooting in the first half. He bounced back to make 6 of 11 shots after halftime. He scored 11 points over a five-minute stretch midway through the second half, but BYU had trouble corralling rebounds and trailed over the final 27 minutes of the game.

Up next

BYU: At Cincinnati on Tuesday night.

West Virginia: At Kansas State on Tuesday night.

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