CHARLESTON — Well before Juwan Staten picked the pocket of Lee Skinner, Best Virginia had already made things more interesting than needed.
The WVU alumni men’s basketball team, once leading by nine points heading into the Elam Ending was now facing an early elimination from The Basketball Tournament (TBT) on Saturday at the Charleston Coliseum.
“Yeah, we definitely let things get a little too close for comfort,” Best Virginia guard Tarik Phillip said.
WVU fans know that all too well, having spent years watching tension-filled moments unfolding with the Mountaineers.
Well, maybe you can take the players out of the WVU uniform, but not the WVU out of the players.
Staten’s steal led to a pass to Phillip, who found a streaking Kevin Jones cutting to the basket and Jones survived hard contact to lay the ball in to give Best Virginia a close 70-67 victory against 15th-seeded WoCo Showtime.
“I was just thinking about trying to get an easy shot,” said Jones, who finished with 18 points and 13 rebounds. “All we needed was just one point, but we were shooting so many tough shots. I was just trying to get something easy.”
This was anything but easy, as Best Virginia fell behind early by as many as nine points and then spent the next two quarters in a defensive-minded grind.
“We started to get better ball pressure, which is what we do,” Best Virginia head coach James Long said. “We just ramped up the pressure, which will steal you some possessions and steal you some points and I think that’s what kind of turned it.”
Best Virginia had begun to pull away, 61-52, when the Elam Ending came into effect with four minutes remaining in the fourth quarter.
At that point, the target score became 69 points — eight points are added to whatever the leading’s team total is — and Best Virginia seemed poised to cruise to a first-round win.
Except WoCo Showtime had other plans.
A No. 15 seed disguised with shooters who could start for the top TBT teams, WoCo Showtime did not go away.
At one point, Fletcher Magee came off a screen and nailed a deep 3-pointer while leaning back on one leg.
“He’s probably the best shooter in the entire TBT,” Long said.
Magee, who finished with 21 points, is the NCAA’s all-time leading 3-point shooter with 509 makes from behind the arc during his Wofford career, and his one-legged shot and, seconds later, two made free throws cut the deficit, 68-67.
Staten had a chance to put the game away with a 16-footer, but came up short and now WoCo Showtime had it’s own chance to pull out the win.
That was until Staten created a scrum near the top of the key and came away with the loose ball, which eventually ended up in Jones’ hands for the win.
“The Elam Ending, every possession counts and both teams really increased their intensity,” Phillip said. “You’re trying to get to that final score. We just needed one more basket and I think we were trying to figure out what was the best way to get that basket. Sometimes a 3-pointer could be the best option or sometimes a lay-up can be our best basket. We have to come to an understanding of when we want to shoot a shot.”
With the win, Best Virginia moved to the second round of the winner-take-all $1 million tournament. Best Virginia will play D2 at 9 p.m. Monday (ESPN2). D2, comprised of players who starred at the NCAA Division II level, defeated Bleed Virginia, 68-56.
Phillip also added a double-double for Best Virginia with 11 points and 10 rebounds, while John Flowers had 15 points and six rebounds.
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