WVU 78, Marshall 62 … close game, as expected! Last night’s margin of victory was the largest since the last time the game wasn’t played in the Civic Center. I would have mentioned that last night, but the arena features the same Internet wiring as it did in 1991.

Good stuff in the video — and thanks to Jared Hunt and Ashley Craig for the assist. At 3:05, check Kevin Jones and his fantastic “lucky charm” hat refer to himself in the past tense third person. At 6:10, Gary Browne cuts no corners.

Speaking of Jones, he never talks on the court. Never. He never stopped talking last night. Never. And the guy who’s entering Walter Berry territory here explained his subtle step our of character after a career-best fourth straight game in double figures.

Against the Herd (13-5), what Jones seemed to have best was a long memory, back to last season’s 75-71 WVU loss to its in-state rival, a game in which Marshall once led by 24 points and Jones scored only nine.

“It was just kind emotional for me,” Jones said after his 8-of-12 night, conceding that he was much more vocal and emotional on the floor than his usual self.

“There was a lot bottled up inside from last year, and it kind of never went away … I think it’s going away a little now.”

Many, myself included, thought WVU’s recovery at the end of the first half was integral in the outcome. In 3 minutes, 12 seconds, the Mountaineers, with some help from Marshall, went from down 27-20 to tied 30-30 at the half when Truck Bryant made a corner 3. WVU trailed once, and for just 16 seconds, in the second half.

The score was tied and Bryant, who had started 0-for-5 and 1-for-8, had a little bounce as he ran to the locker room. He scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half, where the Mountaineers outscored Marshall 48-22 and made 16 of 26 shots.

“That was a key, not only for the team and for the coaching staff, but for me,” Bryant said. “It was a huge momentum swing.”

Marshall was the nation’s best rebounding team and hadn’t been outrebounded all season. Lost, perhaps, in the attention to that was that WVU isn’t too bad at that skill and had only been outrebounded twice … and won both those games. The Mountaineers beat Marshall by 10 on the glass last night and credit went to basic, first-day-of-practice box out drills.

“There was no secret,” said WVU senior forward Kevin Jones, who shared his team’s rebounding lead (seven) with guard Darryl “Truck” Bryant. “It was old-fashioned boxing out and keep them on your backside, so the only way they can get it is to go over your back.

“I think everybody did pretty good five-man box out, because Marshall sends everyone to the glass.

“We did a really good job of boxing out.”

And finally, Bob Hertzel recaps the controversial — fine, screwy — Strongest Cheerleader contest. WVU won, much to the chagrin of one curly-haired male Marshall cheerleader, who jumped up and down at the end of the timeout competition, threw his right fist toward the celebrating WVU cheer team and said, repeatedly, “That’s bull—-!” And he was probably right.

Unless you’ve seen this in person, I can’t properly explain what this contest does to the crowd, the press and even the participants. I mean, people are looking forward to this throughout the game … and longer. Last year’s loss didn’t sit well with the WVU cheerleaders.

“They had three girls holding up one girl,” senior Meredith Stucin of Follansbee said.

That rankled the Mountaineer group, including the men’s captain Zac Atwell, a senior from McDowell County.

“We’ve got some tricks up our sleeve this year,” he said in the Civic Center hallway behind the court in the hours before the game.

In the contest, each squad pushes five of its cheerleaders into the air. Generally, its five strong men from each side holding up five petite women. Last year, a gaggle of Marshall women won when that small group held up their woman the longest. The plan was back last night and they were strong again, but WVU’s winning team was aided by a base that added members as the contest continued.

By the end, the original Marshall gaggle was working, but the WVU team had at least three new members. WVU won and Marshall was peeved. And Hertz was there to chronicle it all.

Here’s video evidence by the Daily Mail’s Jared Hunt:

Seriously, this was in the midst of a rather key moment of the game — WVU’s four shot, 91-second possession where Marshall lost two defensive rebounds out of bounds, Damier Pitts and Dennis Tinnon started screaming at one another before Tinnon spiked the ball off the floor and Jabarie Hinds made a jumper for a nine-point lead when the Herd was trying to hang in there. Good night, it was.