WASHINGTON -- West Virginia is headed back to the Sweet 16 for the third time in four years.

The seventh-seeded Mountaineers overcame a sluggish first half to beat second-seeded Duke, 73-67, yesterday in the second round of the NCAA tournament's West Region.

West Virginia trailed by five points at halftime and by eight three minutes into the second half before finally getting dialed in at the Verizon Center.

The Mountaineers outscored Duke, 44-30, in the final 17 minutes.

Junior forward Joe Alexander, who led the Mountaineers (26-10) with 22 points and 11 rebounds, wasn't that impressed with Duke (28-6), which barely beat 15th-seeded Belmont in the opening round and last went to the Final Four in 2004.

"Duke's a great team, but they definitely wouldn't dominate the Big East," Alexander said. "We had a lot of great teams. I think the top six or seven teams are right on par with Duke in the Big East. And the rest of them are right up there, too."

Junior guard Alex Ruoff scored 15 of his 18 points in the second half. And sophomore guard Joe Mazzulla delivered 13 points, 11 rebounds and 8 assists off the bench for the Mountaineers, who will the meet Xavier Thursday at the US Airways Center in Phoenix.

"I'm really happy for our guys," first-year West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "I'm happy for the university ... and how much this means to our state."

West Virginia shot 40.3 percent (25 of 62) from the field, but just 36.4 percent (4 of 11) from 3-point range after missing six tries in the first half.

Because of foul problems, the Mountaineers were forced to revert to a three-guard offense most of the second half, when they made 16 of 19 free throws.

"We're a very dynamic team," Mazzulla said. "I know they were keying on Alex because he's a great shooter, so the lanes were open for penetration, as well as kickouts. So when you have three [guards] in the game, it gives us a different attack."

Mazzulla, who scored three points in just 15 minutes against Arizona in the opening-round win Thursday, played 31 minutes yesterday, including 17 in the second half.

"He was the MVP of the game," Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said.

Alexander, coming off a 14-point effort against Arizona, had just as many field goals -- 7 of 22 -- as free throws (7 of 8) against Duke, which shot just 38 percent (19 of 50) from the field and 22.7 (5 of 22) from 3-point range.

West Virginia dominated the boards, outrebounding the Blue Devils, 47-27. That lopsided total included a 19-7 advantage on the offensive end.

"We noticed that Duke was, I can't say bad at rebounding, but that they gave up a lot of rebounds," West Virginia forward Da'Sean Butler said. "And we kind of took advantage of it."

The Mountaineers managed 17 second-chance points and 32 points in the paint.

"The way we rebound is by outworking people," Alexander said.

West Virginia held Duke's top scorer, DeMarcus Nelson, to only six points on 2 of 11 shooting.

Gerald Henderson's 18 points topped the Blue Devils, who made two of their first three 3-pointers before misfiring on their next 15.

Alexander's three-point play with 14:38 left put West Virginia ahead, 40-38. It was the Mountaineers' first lead since 4-3.

Mazzulla's drive down the lane made it 47-40 with 11:50 remaining and capped an 18-3 run. He pounded his chest, and the Mountaineers followed suit, pounding the Blue Devils.

"Playing in the Big East every day gets you tougher and you play the best competition in the country," Alexander said. "There's nothing you're really afraid of and nothing you're not ready to face.

"And everybody saw that tonight as we played an ACC school and not only held our own, but went well beyond that."