The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

College Sports

January 17, 2013

Lowes Moore among WVU all-time scorers

By Mickey Furfari For The Register-Herald

MORGANTOWN — Lowes Moore of Mount Vernon, N.Y., ranks among the all-time top 10 men’s basketball scorers in West Virginia University history.

The 6-foot-1, 170-pound guard was a four-year starter from 1977-80. He currently ranks No. 9 with a total of 1,696 points. He played in 113 games and finished with an average of exactly 15.0 points per game.

But after averaging only 5.0 as a freshman in 1977, Moore scored a career-high clip of 21.3 as a sophomore, 17.3 as a junior and 16.4 ppg as a senior.

Moore, who scored 20 or more points in 37 games, posted impressive statistics for his brilliant career. He made 680 of 1,434 field goals (47.4 percent), 336 free throws in 441 attempts (76.2 percent) and 378 rebounds.

He also tallied 128 assists, 132 steals and 22 blocked shots. He was coached by both Joedy Gardner and Gale Catlett and was a captain in 1980.

He played one year with current WVU head coach Bob Huggins, and the two have been close since then.

Moore was both dazzling and entertaining at home games in the Coliseum. He put on a show for fans when on the road, too.

Perhaps his most stunning performance came on Jan. 25, 1978 when he scored a career-high 40 points on 12 of 23 shooting and pulled down eight rebounds against a Notre Dame team that eventually made it to the NCAA Tournament Final Four.

Moore, who was inducted into the WVU Sports Hall of Fame in 2008, earned Eastern Eight all-conference first-team honors twice and twice made the league’s all-tournament team.

He also finished 10th in the nation in field goals made with 237 during his sophomore season. He earned All-America honorable mention nationally in both his junior and senior seasons.

Moore had four 30-point games in Catlett’s first year (1979), topping out with 39 points vs. Virginia Tech. He was a third round selection in the 1981 NBA draft by the New Jersey Nets.

He also played a year each with Cleveland and San Diego. Then he switched to the Continental Basketball Association and played seven more seasons before retiring as a professional.

Since 1990, Moore has been director of the Boys and Girls Club in his hometown of Mount Vernon. Some of his protégés are on the WVU men’s and women’s basketball squads.

Lowes and wife Patricia have been married nearly 30 years. They have four children: Michelle, Shireyll, Lowes III and Isiah. 

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