Dec. 5, 2007
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- Alex Ruoff scored a career-high 28 points on 10-of-12 shooting to lead West Virginia to an 88-59 victory over Auburn on Wednesday night in the SEC/Big East Invitational.
The Mountaineers (6-1), who lead the nation in scoring margin, effectively put this one away in the opening minutes. West Virginia started the game with a 28-6 spurt over the first 12 minutes and didn't allow the Tigers (4-2) to muster much of a threat after that.
Ruoff made 6-of-8 3-pointers, easily topping his previous scoring high of 23 points last season.
Ruoff and the Mountaineers made everything look easy. Their biggest lead came on his 3-pointer while falling down to make it 80-43 before coach Bob Huggins emptied his bench with about 5 minutes left.
Joe Alexander added 17 points for West Virginia, Da'Sean Butler had 13 and Joe Mazzulla 11. The Mountaineers shot 61 percent from the floor and committed only seven turnovers while forcing 20.
Auburn's DeWayne Reed scored 19 points and made 5-of-11 3s. Leading scorer Korvotney Barber had eight points, nine below his season average. Rasheem Barrett added 10 for the Tigers, who entered on a four-game winning streak.
Auburn forward Quan Prowell saw his first action of the season after a five-game suspension, but managed just four points in 23 minutes.
The Tigers managed to cut the halftime deficit to 44-27 on Reed's 3-pointer with 4 seconds left and even got the first basket of the second half. West Virginia scored the next nine points en route to an 18-4 run to put the game well out of reach.