CHARLESTON — On the same day he signed a professional contract to play in Italy in the fall, Nathan Adrian nailed the decisive 3-pointer that sent Best Virginia to the Super 16 of The Basketball Tournament (TBT).
Adrian finished with 11 points at the Charleston Coliseum in a hard-fought and physical 63-51 victory against No. 7 seed D2, a collection of former NCAA Division II stars.
Yet Adrian was far from the only standout on this night.
“We had so many different guys stepping up at different times,” Best Virginia guard Tarik Phillip said. “That’s really what makes us a good team. It can be anybody on any given night.”
That includes Phillip, who left his mark all over this game, even while getting a few marks left on him.
One tough defensive play in the second half saw Phillip get smacked in the face, yet it was Phillip who was charged with the foul.
“Hey, this tournament is for $1 million, the refs are going to let you play sometimes,” Phillip said. “You’re going to get bad calls sometimes. You just have to keep playing hard.”
When he wasn’t getting smacked in the face, Phillip spent must of the first half running Best Virginia’s offense as a second guard racking up assists and then scored eight of his 11 points in the second half.
“Tarik is a great player and we trust him with the ball in his hands,” said Best Virginia forward Kevin Jones, who finished with 13 points and six rebounds. “We know he’s going to make the correct play. He had the mind set of attacking. Once he’s in that mind set, he’s hard to stop. He really played great tonight.”
Best Virginia failed to score a point over the final four minutes of the second quarter and D2 got as close as 45-42 by the end of the third quarter.
Jones later referred to the game as ugly and overcoming adversity.
“Adversity has been thrown at me all my life,” Phillip said. “If you know my story, you know that it doesn’t really phase me that much.”
Before he was a standout at WVU, Phillip’s basketball career included being ruled ineligible to play as a high school senior in New York, which forced him to play at a prep school in Charlotte, N.C.
He signed with South Carolina, but did not qualify academically, which forced him to attend junior college … all before Bob Huggins signed Phillip to play at WVU.
So yeah, he knows a little something about staying the course.
Phillip’s 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter stretched Best Virginia’s lead, 51-42, and he added another once the Elam Ending had already been set to give the team a 60-51 lead.
The target score was 61 and it was Phillip who came up with the steal that set up Adrian’s clinching 3-pointer.
Phillip’s final stats: 11 points, seven assists and three rebounds in a sometimes hard-to-watch style of game.
“I don’t want to say we play better under stress, but a lot of people rise to the occasion when their backs are against the wall,” Phillip said. “So, I guess you do have to say that.”
D2 was led by Shaun Willett, who finished with 12 points and nine rebounds.
Former Fairmont State standout Jamel Morris added 11 points off the bench and Alex Ruoff led Best Virginia with 10 rebounds.
Best Virginia advances to the Super 16 and will play No. 6 seed Team 23 at 9 p.m. Wednesday. Team 23 defeated Herd That, 74-71, on Monday.
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