West Virginia 85, DePaul 73

2/27/2008 10:43 PM

ROSEMONT, Ill. (AP) -Alex Ruoff scored 22 points and Da'Sean Butler added 14 points and 13 rebounds as West Virginia defeated DePaul 85-73 on Wednesday night.

West Virginia (20-8, 9-6 Big East) went on a 22-0 run in the first half that pushed the Mountaineers to a 33-9 lead with 8:16 remaining in the period. West Virginia held DePaul scoreless for 7 minutes during the run and limited the Blue Demons to 35.5 percent shooting in the first half.

DePaul made a game out of it in the second half, cutting the Mountaineers' lead to 53-48 with 14:05 left on Will Walker's basket. But Joe Alexander answered with a jumper and Ruoff hit a 3-pointer to boost West Virginia's lead back to 10 points. Alexander finished with 17 points.

Draelon Burns led the Blue Demons with 31 points and Walker added 13 points.

DePaul (10-17, 5-10) has lost eight of its last nine games and are in danger of not making the Big East Tournament for the second time in three years. The top 12 teams make the conference tournament and DePaul is currently in 12th place.

West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins is 27-8 all-time against DePaul.