MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The opening few minutes of Wednesday’s matchup with Coppin State didn’t represent anything close to West Virginia’s best basketball.

Not everything that transpired the remainder of the matchup did either, but it was far better and helped produce a 91-49 victory over the Eagles inside Hope Coliseum.

“We’ve been a fairly fast-starting team, but didn’t think we had it, whatever it is,” WVU head coach Ross Hodge said. “We were a step slow defensively, had a hard time keeping the ball out of the paint. They drove and we fouled early, which is typically a sign that we were late. We had some definite reactionary fouls early on.”

After West Virginia (7-2) forward Brenen Lorient scored on the game’s first possession, the Eagles (2-9) ran off nine unanswered points for their largest lead.

Even after the Mountaineers displayed signs of life and got to within 11-9, there were forgetful moments. Honor Huff made only the last of four free throws that followed two technical fouls assessed to Coppin State head coach Larry Stewart, who was ejected 6:31 into the action.

Treysen Eaglestaff’s three-pointer that broke a 13-all tie put WVU ahead to stay and marked the start of an 11-0 run that culminated with Chance Moore scoring from close range.

Huff accounted for a trio of treys over the final 5:26 of the opening half, the last of which left WVU with its largest lead to that point at 40-26.

Coppin State countered with six consecutive points to end the half, getting four from Tyler Koenig and two free throws from Hassan Perkins to trail by eight at the intermission.

At the break, 19 of WVU’s 31 field-goal attempts were threes, and the Mountaineers finished with 34 of their 64 shot attempts from beyond the arc. WVU made 11 triples and 19 two-point field goals.

“They collapsed on us when we drove, and that’s why we shot 34 threes,” Hodge said. “I thought about 28 of them were actually really good shots. If you could get past the initial line, then you were laying it up.”

Perkins accounted for the Eagles’ first bucket of the second half to trim the WVU advantage to 42-34, before the home team ran off the next 14 points to open up a comfortable advantage. Five different Mountaineers — Harlan Obioha, Huff, Lorient, Amir Jenkins and DJ Thomas — scored a stretch of more than 4 minutes that saw the Eagles go from within striking distance to an insurmountable deficit.

“Our guys responded well in the second half with the physicality,” Hodge said. 

WVU outscored the Eagles 23-5 over the final 7:24 and 51-17 in the second half after being challenged by Hodge to put forth a better showing 

“He was fired up for sure,” Moore said. “He was just holding us accountable. He knows we’re better than what we played in the first half. He challenged us to be better and produce and that’s what we did in the second half.”

The Mountaineers gained their first 30-point lead on the first of two Jenkins free throws for a 77-47 advantage at the 4:29 mark.

Coppin State made 7-of-28 field-goal attempts after halftime and committed 10 of its 15 turnovers over that time as well.

“We guarded the ball better in the second half. We kept the ball in front of us,” Hodge said. “Our activity level increased and that was the biggest difference. To start the game, they drove us right down the seams and shot layups on us.”

Moore and Huff scored 17 apiece to pace the Mountaineers. Moore made 6-of-8 shots and 5-of-6 free throws, while registering double-figure scoring for the third time in four games as a Mountaineer.

Huff made five threes and 14 of his 15 field-goal attempts were from long range. 

Lorient scored 12 and Eaglestaff added 11 points and a team-high eight rebounds.

“If I keep working, I’m going to be more confident, which the work has never bothered me, so I’m going to keep doing it,” Eaglestaff said.

Free throws continue to be at least somewhat problematic for West Virginia, which was No. 255 nationally through eight games with a 68.9 percentage. The Mountaineers were 8 of 16 at halftime before displaying significant second-half improvement to finish 20 for 33.

Perkins led Coppin State with 11 points. 

MARSHALL COUNTY, W. Va. (WTRF) – Charges have been filed by law enforcement against three Marshall County educators involving alleged abuse of an autistic child.

The West Virginia State Police began an investigation into this alleged neglect back in October after a complaint was made about a child being abused by a teacher.

Now, some of these school employees are facing felony charges.

The investigation started on Oct. 8 when state police were made aware of an incident involving potential child abuse at McNinch Elementary School that had occurred on Sept. 18.

According to the complaint, a special needs teacher, Kiersten Nicole Moses, grabbed a 6-year-old autistic child by the neck and used both hands to squeeze the student.

The report says the child is non-verbal.

As the investigation continued, Sergeant S.M Durrah learned the alleged abuse was witnessed by an aid, who reported the incident to the school principal, Jane Ann Duffy.

The court filing says Duffy advised that the student needed to be seen by the school nurse, and she later reported the incident to Erin Michelle Cuffaro, the Marshall County Special Programs Director.

The incident was recorded and later viewed by both Duffy and Cuffaro.

The court filing claims the video shows Moses physically grabbing the child’s neck for several seconds; therefore, meeting the requirements for a report to be made through the Child Abuse Hotline.

Per state law, mandated reporters are required to contact the Department of Human Services within 24 hours when they suspect abuse or neglect.

According to the investigating officer, no report was made to the department by school personnel until Oct. 5.

Now, several criminal complaints have been filed against these three educators in the Marshall County Magistrate Court.

The teacher accused of grabbing the child, Moses, faces four felony charges including two counts of battery and assault of a disabled child, strangulation and child abuse resulting in injury.

Duffy, the principal of McNinch Elementary, is charged with one misdemeanor count of failure to report the suspected child abuse.

The county’s special programs director, Cuffaro, also faces several charges including eight felony counts of child neglect resulting in injury, and multiple misdemeanors including failure to report, interference with officers and obstruction.

Investigators say Cuffaro put eight children at risk by not removing Moses from the classroom and failed to report the abuse on at least two occasions.

One of those misdemeanor charges involves text messages between Duffy and Cuffaro describing the incident that had allegedly been deleted by Cuffaro.  

7News reached out to Marshall County School officials and were provided a statement by Superintendent Dr. Shelby Haines.

She says, “Our top priority is educating children. We have been and will continue to collaborate with law enforcement, the WV Department of Education, and legal counsel.”

All three educators have been arraigned and posted bond.

Stay tuned to 7News for developments.