ESPN Men's Basketball

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Darryl "Truck" Bryant scored a career-high 27 points and West Virginia's defense put the clamps on Miami for a 77-66 nonconference victory Saturday night.

For the Mountaineers (6-2), it was their second straight victory in about 48 hours after upsetting undefeated Kansas State in double overtime Thursday night. Miami (5-4) lost for the fourth time in its last five contests. The Hurricanes started the season 4-0.

Bryant, a senior, was 9 of 12 from the field and 5 of 7 from the 3-point line to eclipse his 24-point performance against the Wildcats. His five made shots from long range also were a personal high.

Bryant was one of three Mountaineers in double figures. Deniz Kilicli totaled 18 points and Kevin Jones, the team's leading scorer, had 12.

Miami's Malcolm Grant scored 17 points, 11 in the first half, and Kenny Kadji and Garrius Adams had 15 points apiece.

The Hurricanes owned a 37-35 first half lead as both teams shot 50 percent from the field. The edge belonged to the visitors because they made 6 of 12 triples in the first 20 minutes.

But after intermission, West Virginia stifled the Hurricanes, who continually came up with empty possessions as Bryant and the Mountaineers pushed the lead.

In fact, Miami's first field goal came with 11:01 left in the game. By then, WVU had the tussle in hand.

Trailing by a basket, West Virginia jumped out to an 8-0 lead for a 43-37 lead with 17:26 left. Bryant and Kilicli scored all 12 points as the Mountaineers assumed a 51-39 lead with 14:56 to go.

In fact, Miami went seven consecutive possessions without scoring a field goal. The Hurricanes' three free throws at the time were not enough against a soaring West Virginia team, which had outscored Miami 25-3 by the 11:27 mark. Freshman Aaron Brown's 3-pointer at that juncture gave the Mountaineers their largest lead, 60-40.

West Virginia shot 54 percent (27 of 50) from the floor, 40 percent from long range (8 of 20) and 83.3 percent from the foul line (15 of 18). After hitting half of their 30 first-half shots, the Hurricanes made just 36 percent from the field (9 of 25) and 27.3 (3 of 11) from 3 in the second half.

Miami outrebounded West Virginia 15-14 in the first half, but like the defense, the board work picked up for the home team. It out-caromed the Hurricanes 33-26 for the game.

Jones led all rebounders with nine. Kilicli had the second most rebounds with eight.