West Virginia

Kevin Pittsnogle scored all but two of his 22 points in the second half to help West Virginia rally from 14 points down and surprise No. 18 Pittsburgh for the second time this season, 70-66, last night in Pittsburgh. West Virginia trailed by 56-42 before riding Pittsnogle's exceptional outside shooting during a 28-10 run that saw Pittsburgh held without a field goal for the final 7 minutes, 26 seconds. "It's why people love college basketball," West Virginia coach John Beilein said.

Contrary to all the fuss being made in the preseason, there's no truth to the rumor that a certain Eastern basketball league has been renamed the "Temple and Atlantic 9 Conference. " The Owls, coming off a 32-4 season and No. 8 national ranking, are a near- unanimous selection to win the Atlantic 10 championship. And conference officials are delighted with the attention that has been directed the A-10's way because of Temple. So the tendency might be to overlook the other teams in the conference.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Whether it's the Orange Bowl or playing at home, No. 11 West Virginia is comfortable with scoring a point a minute. Geno Smith threw for 323 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Mountaineers to a 69-34 win over Marshall on Saturday in the Mountaineers' highest-scoring opener. West Virginia coach Dana Holgorsen will have plenty of things to tweak after the opener. Just not his quarterback's play. Smith kept the momentum going from his six-TD performance in the Orange Bowl, when West Virginia beat Clemson, 70-33.

Blue-chip football prospect James Spears came back to Glen Mills School from a weekend recruiting trip to the University of Maryland with his mind made up. He's going to West Virginia. Spears, a 6-foot, 6-inch, 220-pound senior defensive end and tight end with 4.65-second speed in the 40, decided yesterday to cancel his last two recruiting trips - to Syracuse and Georgia - and verbally commit to the Mountaineers. As of last night, Glen Mills officials had not been able to reach West Virginia coach Don Nehlen or anyone on his staff to tell them of Spears' decision.

La Salle transfer Murray to visit West Virginia The Aaric Murray school tour will continue this weekend at West Virginia, the Daily News has learned. Earlier, Murray visited Oklahoma State. Kansas was on his itinerary last weekend, but he did not take that visit. Murray, after playing two seasons at La Salle, is transferring. He scored 851 points and took 444 rebounds, but this transfer was not about numbers. It was about performance, along with interaction with coaches and teammates.

The Big 12 welcomed West Virginia from the Big East and bid goodbye to Missouri before the Tigers even had a chance to make their move to the Southeastern Conference official. Now that the poaching of the Big East seems to be over, the beleaguered league is not backing down. It has been busy courting six schools and says it was braced for the latest loss. And despite what the Big 12 says, the Big East plans to keep West Virginia for two more years - just as it has vowed to keep Pittsburgh and Syracuse away from the Atlantic Coast Conference until 2014.

When Holy Cross wide receiver Isaac Irby signs a letter of intent with West Virginia on Wednesday, he will become the seventh Tom Maderia-coached player to continue his football career in Morgantown. The four who have exhausted their eligibility graduated. Two are in medical school. Another is in the NFL. Tailback Avon Cobourne might be on a fast track to the NFL after leading the Big East in rushing (113.9 yards per game) as a freshman last fall. The union that appears to be as blissful as ever is anything but, however, if you listen to Maderia and Holy Cross offensive coordinator Joe Taffoni.

The powers that be at Conwell-Egan High School decided to move last night's basketball game against visiting North Catholic up an hour - from 7:30 to 6:30 - so that fans would be able to get home in time to watch the Sugar Bowl in its entirety. The reason: Freshman running back Steve Slaton stars for West Virginia. If the unprecedented time change had not been made, the fans at the basketball game would have missed Slaton's 52-yard touchdown run on West Virginia's fourth play of the game.

Temple's women's basketball game against visiting West Virginia at McGonigle Hall last night was close and hard-fought, but totally lacking in suspense. There seemed no doubt that the Mountaineers would win - they did, 71-54 - even when the Owls were in position to make a run in the second half of the Atlantic Ten game. Several times Temple (5-9 overall, 2-2 league) had a chance to create a stir by pulling within six points, but never did. Each opportunity was thwarted by missed fouls shots, missed field goals, or a clutch Mountaineers shot.

These last few weeks, Aaron Brown desperately tried to referee a serious wrestling match inside his head. Is it Temple, where he could stay close to his Darby home; or is it West Virginia, a Big East program that went deep into the NCAA Tournament and plays regularly on national TV? After a few mind bends, changing his direction hour to hour, sometimes minute to minute, the 6-5 Penn Wood senior swingman ended his internal debate by calling Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins on Sunday night to give an oral commitment that he will attend West Virginia next fall.