PITTSBURGH – Best Virginia kicked off the 2024 TBT basketball tournament off with a bang in Pittsburgh with a dominant 94-69 victory over 6-seed Brotherly Love in the opening round inside the Petersen Events Center on Saturday afternoon.
The 3-seed WVU men’s basketball alumni team got off to a hot start from the opening tip and didn’t look back en route to an opening-round win. BV will advance to play in the Regional Semifinals on Monday night against Zoo Crew at 8 p.m. inside The Pete.
Every player touched the floor and scored for Best Virginia, led by Wesley Harris with 15 points. Three other players reached double-figures for head coach Chase Harler’s squad to the tune of 14 triples as a team. Indiana State’s and Best Virginia newcomer Xavier Bledson shot 4 for 6 from deep while BV shot 48.7% from the floor in the contest.
“Good effort for us today, we have some new guys on the roster this summer that came in and fit perfectly with us,” Harler said. “Marcus Keene and Xavier Bledson are non-WVU guys and since the first day they’ve been here it’s felt natural. Having a deep roster helps when everyone has the ability to come in and impact the game. The score may not reflect how much preparation went into that game, we felt ready and we will turn around and get ready for Monday.”
It took little time for Best Virginia to open the scoring and extend an early lead with a swift 8-0 run to begin the opening quarter. Brotherly Love called an early timeout but the Mountaineer Men didn’t ease up the pressure as the run extended to 14-3 after the first two minutes of play.
Keene’s third triple of the first quarter gave BV a 22-8 lead at the 5:15 mark, and grew to 35-13 at the end of the frame as every player on the roster touched the floor.
“We have no liabilities on this team, everyone is a professional and brings something different to the table,” Harler said. “Today we did a good job of rotating guys in and out and we also try to play for the hot hand; Marcus stayed on the floor in the first quarter a little longer because he was on fire. In a tournament like this having everyone be able to step up and do something for us is huge.”
Teyvon Meyers extended the lead to 47-20 with a jumper with 5:22 to play in the first half. He finished with seven points but dished 13 assists on the night, the second-most ever in a single game in TBT history.
Starting fast and building an early lead can be an early dagger in the TBT tournament with the inclusion of the Elam Ending. Best Virginia was able to build a lead before halftime that was virtually impossible for Brotherly Love to overcome.
“That’s big because when you get down to the Elam Ending, you either want to be up or close to the other team,” Keene, a TBT veteran said. “You never want to be down three, four possessions when it gets to that point. With this team and being able to rotate players in and out, I feel like we have a great chance to either be ahead or close to our opponents in every game.”
Harris nailed a three at the 4:48 mark in the fourth quarter as the game entered the Elam Ending with BV leading 85-56, with the first team to reach the target score of 93 advancing to Monday’s Regional Semifinal.
Harris hit another triple and scored a layup to give BV it’s first five points of the Elam Ending. He was followed by two layups by Johnathan Holton, with the latter ending the game and moving Best Virginia through to the second round.
With a potential matchup against the Pittsburgh alumni team, Zoo Crew in the next game, Harler couldn’t help but acknowledge that renewing a rivalry in the TBT would be a special occasion.
“It’s cool how they kind of set the bracket up on purpose for that, I’m from West Virginia so it’s a little personal for me,” Harler said. “We played against them when I was at WVU and don’t think we ever lost to Pitt, so if they are the team to advance to Monday I hope we keep that tradition going.”
“I’m also 1 and 0 against them,” Esa Ahmad was sure to add.
BOX SCORE
Best Virginia 94, Brotherly Love 69
BL 13 20 16 20 – 69
BV 35 15 25 19 – 94
Brotherly Love – Wilson 7 0-0 16 Johnson 4 1-2 9 Akano 7 3-4 19 Stanback 3 0-0 9 Lyons 1 0-0 2 Jones 3 0-0 8 Johnson 3 0-0 6
Best Virginia – Keene 4 1-1 12 Harris 6 0-0 15 Philip 2 1-1 5 Ahmad 5 2-3 12 Williams 3 1-1 7 Holton 4 0-0 9 Myers 3 1-1 7 Konate 3 0-0 7 Sherman 3 0-0 8 Bledson 4 0-0 12
3pt goals – Brotherly Love 9 (Stanback 3 Wilson 2 Akano 2 Jones 2); Best Virginia 14 (Bledson 4 Keene 3 Harris 3 Sherman 2 Konate 1 Holton 1)
