NEU » from start-to-finish Saturday for West Vir

Montreal Canadiens prospect Michael McCarron will be taking the Canadian Hockey League road en route to the NHL. The London Free Press reports that the first-round pick is expected to join Dale and Mark Hunters London Knights next season to continue his development and that an official announcement could be made as early as Wednesday. The Canadiens selected McCarron 25th overall in last months NHL draft. The six-foot-five, 228 pound winger was deciding between London - who own his CHL rights - and the Western Michigan Broncos headed by former NHL coach Andy Murray. McCarron, who has drawn some comparisons to Milan Lucic, played with the U.S. National Team Development Program, with whom he scored 11 goals and had 18 assists in 49 games last season. Swell Black Friday Sale . "I dont know that were close," said general manager Alex Anthopoulos. "I just think, right now, the acquisition cost just doesnt work for us right now. I dont know if I can quantify how far off or things like that that they might be but I would say we continue to have dialogue. Swell Black Friday . After a first half in which he thought "the lid was on the basket," the Toronto Raptors coach watched his squad mount a second half surge to defeat the Cleveland Cavaliers 98-91. http://www.waterbottleblackfriday.com/ .J. -- Marty Brodeur beat the Pittsburgh Penguins yet again. Swell Cyber Monday . What general manager Dave Nonis called "short and productive" negotiations ended with Kessel signing a US$64-million, eight-year contract on Tuesday. Hydro Flask Black Friday . PAUL, Minn. MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- It took nine games for West Virginias Daxter Miles Jr. to start to find a rhythm.Miles scored a season-high 20 points and the 15th-ranked Mountaineers overcame an early lull to beat VMI 90-55 on Saturday and give coach Bob Huggins his 799th career win.Miles missed the first three games with an unspecified illness and was ejected for throwing an elbow in the first half of a close win over Virginia last Saturday. The lack of court time set him back on a team where a dozen players are getting extensive minutes.Against VMI, the junior went 6 of 9 from the field, including 5 of 6 from 3-point range.It feels good, Miles said. I just had to get back into the basic of things, and just whatever it takes me to do. Did I feel like it was my time? No. Everybody has roles and we all kind of know what each other likes to do.West Virginia (8-1) followed up a 53-point win over Western Carolina on Wednesday night with a lackluster first half to finish its final exams week.VMI (1-7) accomplished what no other mid-major opponent has done in the first half this season -- handle West Virginias full-court pressure defense and keep up in scoring for a while.The Keydets lost by 18 points at home to Gardner-Webb in their last game but were scrappy out of the gate against the often-substituting Mountaineers.After falling behind by 16, the Keydets were within 22-17 before Miles made two 3-pointers, and Elijah Macons free throw with 4 minutes left until halftime put the Mountaineers ahead by double digits for good, 32-22.I thought we competed, especially for the first 25 minutes, VMI coach Dan Earl said. I give West Virginia a ton of credit. They come at you for 40 minutes. They wore us down a little bit.Esa Ahmad added 12 points and Brandon Watkins had a season-high 11 pooints and grabbed 10 rebounds for West Virginia.ddddddddddddQJ Peterson scored 17 points for VMI, which was limited to three field goals over the final 12 minutes of the game.BIG PICTUREVMI: The Keydets might win more games if they match the intensity that they had midway through the first half, when they went on an 11-0 run, including seven points by Peterson, who led West Virginias Hedgesville High School to a state championship in 2012.West Virginia: The Mountaineers lead the nation in forced turnovers with 26.5 per game, including at least 34 turnovers in two of their last three games. Two years ago VMI committed 36 against them. But the defensive effort wasnt there from start-to-finish Saturday for West Virginia, which forced 22.Twenty-two forced turnovers to most people is good, Huggins said. And were looking at it like we shouldve had some more.ADRIAN SLUMPINGThe Mountaineers havent gotten much production lately out of Nathan Adrian, who no longer is the teams top scorer after getting two points each against Western Carolina and VMI.POLL IMPLICATIONSWest Virginia should move up in the AP poll after No. 12 Saint Marys and No. 13 Xavier lost earlier in the week.CHARITY CLANKWest Virginia isnt going to win many games at the free throw line. The Mountaineers are shooting 66 percent from the line this season and went 26 of 42 (62 percent) on Saturday. They fared better from 3-point range, going 10 of 19.UP NEXTVMI: Hosts Charleston Southern on Tuesday.West Virginia: Can give Huggins his 800th win when it hosts Missouri-Kansas City next Saturday.---More AP college basketball: www.collegebasketball.ap.org and https://twitter.com/AP-Top25. ' ' '