Mattt Freed, Post-Gazette photos Kevin Pittsnogle gets wrapped up with North-western State's Keenan Jones (21) yesterday. Click photo for larger image. More Coverage: WVU Tournament Notebook: Right time to get tough Atlanta Region: Guards lift Texas into third round

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. -- Northwestern State was host to a coaches clinic in the fall and one of the main speakers was a former high school coach whose specialty was teaching the 1-3-1 zone defense.

Demons coach Mike McConathy should have taken better notes on that session.

Northwestern State, the No. 14 seed in the Atlanta regional of the NCAA tournament, was done in by No. 6 seed West Virginia's 1-3-1 zone in the Mountaineers' 67-54 win yesterday.

By the time the Demons figured out how to attack the zone, the Mountaineers had seized control of the game and were on their way to the Sweet 16 for the second year in a row. West Virginia jumped out to a 22-point halftime lead and then cruised to victory against the Demons.

"They have long, strong players that do a very good job in that zone," McConathy said.

"They do such a good job of dropping into passing lanes on the backside of it and that causes the real problems. They do a phenomenal job and they do a great job of staying in their defensive game plan. There are some other people who play that zone, but nobody does it quite like coach Beilein and West Virginia does it."

West Virginia coach John Beilein said: "The 1-3-1 defense is very hard to prepare for on one day because you just don't see it very often. It was the staple of everyone's defense back in the 1970s and '80s. But teams don't practice it now and, more importantly, teams don't practice against it, and that's one of the things we've just kind of came across in the past few years. It is something that makes us a tough matchup on short preparation time."

West Virginia's J.D. Collins drives to the basket in front of Northwestern's Kerwin Forges in the second half yesterday at the Palace of Auburn Hills in Auburn HIlls, Mich. Click photo for larger image.

The Mountaineers (21-11) next will play No. 2 seed Texas (29-6) at 9:40 p.m. Thursday in Atlanta for a chance to go to the Elite Eight for the second consecutive year. The Mountaineers reached the Sweet 16 in consecutive years for the second time. West Virginia also did it in 1959 and '60 -- teams that featured Hall of Famer Jerry West.

West Virginia forward Mike Gansey said he's proud to be a part of a team that has made history.

"It is a credit to our coaching staff and to everyone on the team," Gansey said. "Without coach Beilein and his staff we wouldn't have the opportunity to be as good as we are. We play well together as a team and for us to go to back-to-back Sweet 16s for the first time since the Jerry West era says a lot about us. And, hopefully, we'll go down as some of the most popular players and one of the most popular teams in West Virginia history."

Northwestern State and West Virginia struggled to find an offensive flow early in the game, but the Mountaineers settled down around the 16-minute mark and used a 14-1 run to take an 18-7 lead.

West Virginia forced 17 first-half turnovers and held the Demons to 33 percent shooting in the half. The Demons made only 2 of 9 3-point attempts and went 7:30 without making a field goal.

"We had 24 turnovers and they turned them into 26 points, so I think that pretty much tells the story of the game," McConathy said.

Mountaineers reserve point guard Darris Nichols delivered the knockout blow right before the half.

		Local matchups No. 6 West Virginia (22-10) vs. No. 2 Texas (29-6), 9:40 p.m. Thursday, Georgia Dome, Atlanta. TV: KDKA WNIT: Pitt (20-10) vs. Mississippi (17-13), 7 p.m. Wednesday at Fitzgerald Field House.

The Demons trailed, 38-19, with less than 30 seconds to play, had possession of the ball and set up a play for a 3-pointer. But Jermaine Wallace's 3-point attempt missed with six seconds left and Nichols grabbed the rebound, dribbled toward the Mountaineers' basket before launching a shot from beyond the midcourt stripe that banked in at the buzzer and pushed the Mountaineers' lead to 41-19.

McConathy said that six-point swing at the end of the half was probably too much for his team to overcome.

"That sort of epitomized how our half went," he said. "Everything went wrong for us and then it ended about as badly as it did. I felt like we fought hard in the second half and we got back into the game, but we had to work awfully hard to get back into it. And we had a long way to go and a large deficit to overcome against a terrific basketball team. That was a lot to ask."

The Demons made a couple of runs at the Mountaineers in the second half, cutting the lead to single digits twice, but the Mountaineers responded with runs to take back momentum.

"You knew it was going to be like a root canal in the second half. They just came after us with everything they had, but in the end we are still standing," Beilein said. "You look at our players right now and we got ice bags all over the place, cramps all over the place, but we did not quit. So we keep on playing for at least one more game."