Cancun Challenge | 11/27/2019 11:22:47 PM

West Virginia captures the 2019 Riviera Division championship with a 74-63 win over Wichita State in front of a raucous and sold-out crowd at the Hard Rock Hotel Riviera Maya.

Tournament MVP Oscar Tshiebwe led West Virginia with a double-double scoring 19 points and tying a Cancun Challenge single-game record with 18 rebounds.  Emmitt Mathews Jr. finished with 13 points and Jordan McCabe added nine.  Miles McBride earned All-Tournament honors along with Tshiebwe.

Wichita State’s Erik Stevenson led all scorers with 22 points, Tyson Etienne with 12 and Jamie Echenique finished with a double-double of 11 points and 11 rebounds.  Stevenson was named to the All-Tournament team along with teammate Jamarius Burton.

West Virginia dominated the WSU in the paint outscoring the Shockers 30-16 and winning the rebound margin 48-31. The Mountaineers held WSU to 30 percent shooting from the field and only 24 percent from behind the arc.

WVU led nearly the entire game and by as much as 14 points.

The Mountaineers became the first Big 12 team to win the championship.  The conference is now 10-2 all-time in Cancun Challenge games.  WVU made it to the Riviera Championship game in 2013, but fell short to Wisconsin 70-63.  

Maik Kotsar of South Carolina and AJ Green of Northern Iowa were both named to the Riviera Division All-Tournament Team.

All-Tournament Team
MVP – Oscar Tshiebwe (West Virginia)
Miles McBride (West Virginia)
Erik Stevenson (Wichita State)
Jamarius Burton (Wichita State)
Maik Kotsar (South Carolina)
AJ Green (Northern Iowa)