Carter, Williams lead West Virginia over James Madison 86-73

Carter, Williams lead West Virginia over James Madison 86-73

Published Nov. 16, 2015 11:00 p.m. ET

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) West Virginia coach Bob Huggins wants sophomore guard Jevon Carter to focus as much on limiting his mistakes as he does on trying to score.

Carter and Devin Williams had 19 points apiece and West Virginia overcame its own sluggish shooting to beat James Madison 86-73 Monday night.

Carter led the Mountaineers in scoring for the second straight game but is taking some heat from Huggins for his sloppy play. Carter had five of the Mountaineers' 13 turnovers.

''I don't want him to be OK. I want him to be great,'' Huggins said. ''He needs to get better at those other things.

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''He made some really bad decisions with the ball. He made some really good decisions, too. And I think the battle is to try to keep working, working, and working until he's making more and more good decisions and less and less bad decisions.''

Carter said he particularly wants to be able to get the ball to open teammates sooner.

''If I make one mistake, I try my best not to make that same mistake again,'' Carter said.

Jonathan Holton added 12 points and Daxter Miles Jr. had 11 for the Mountaineers (2-0). Holton had 12 rebounds and Williams grabbed 10 as both players earned their second straight double doubles.

Shakir Brown led James Madison (1-1) with 21 points. Dimitrije Cabarkapa added 13 points, Winston Grays III scored 12 and Ron Curry added 11.

West Virginia never trailed but let the Dukes of the Colonial Athletic Association stay within striking distance for most of the game.

Brown made a 3-pointer and Grays hit a driving layup 19 seconds apart to bring James Madison within 66-58 with nine minutes left. But the Dukes made only four field goals the rest of the game.

James Madison coach Matt Brady said the Dukes couldn't match West Virginia's energy. Nine Mountaineers played at least 11 minutes.

''You have to play against a wave of players. They just keep bringing them off of the bench,'' Brady said. ''They clearly wore us down.''

In the span of a minute, Miles made a layup, Holton sank two free throws and Williams dunked off a pass from Holton to give the Mountaineers a 76-61 lead with 4:38 remaining. West Virginia extended its lead to as many as 20 points after that.

West Virginia shot 39 percent from the floor after halftime and 44 percent for the game. The Mountaineers made up for their errant shooting by outrebounding James Madison 42-31, including 22 offensive rebounds.

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TIP-INS

West Virginia: The Mountaineers improved to 8-3 in the series that started in 1982. ... The Mountaineers have failed to reach 50 percent shooting from the floor in 21 straight games dating to last season.

James Madison: Paulius Satkus and Tom Vodanovich fouled out while Curry and Cabarkapa each had four fouls. .... The Dukes were held to 41 percent shooting (21 of 51) after shooting 51 percent in a win over Richmond on Friday.

SHOW UP, PLEASE

Huggins wants to play twice each season in Charleston, about 160 miles south of WVU's campus in Morgantown. But he's starting to have second thoughts after only 8,101 fans attended the game at the 13,500-seat Charleston Civic Center.

''I don't want to come here and not have a good crowd,'' Huggins said. ''I'm all for it, but at the same time, if we're going to come, then come to the game.''

UP NEXT

West Virginia: Returns to Morgantown to play Stetson on Friday night.

James Madison: Hosts Florida International on Friday night.

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