MORGANTOWN — In the span of eight minutes Wednesday, West Virginia saved its season and nearly lost it at the same time.
If you ever wondered just how chaotic Big 12 basketball can get, we offer you up the second half of WVU’s 62-59 victory over Cincinnati inside the Coliseum.
The short side of it tells a story of how the Mountaineers (16-10, 7-8 Big 12) came back from a 47-41 deficit with 7:44 remaining and turned that into a comfortable 62-53 lead with just 17 seconds left.
Those final 17 seconds were nearly a disaster, as Cincinnati (15-11, 5-10) turned two bad WVU turnovers into two miracle 3-pointers and nearly a third one.
Cincinnati’s Tyler Betsey had a wide-open look on the final shot, but his three hit the front of the rim and fell to the floor.
“That was, wow, that ball was going in,” was the way WVU head coach Darian DeVries put it. “That was one of the wilder sequences I’ve ever been a part of.”
There is more to the story, as there usually is, in that WVU faced much more than just a simple six-point deficit back at that 7:44 mark.
WVU center Eduardo Andre had just picked up his fourth foul. Forward Toby Okani was saddled to the bench, because he was having an off night and Javon Small was clearly not at full speed.
Small, who played 36 minutes and scored 16 points, exited the game in the first half for the locker room to get his ankle checked. He came back to the bench a few minutes later, but was limping at times once he got back into the game.
“My ankle hurt a little bit, but that happens in basketball,” he said. “Injuries happen and sometimes you just have to play through them. I just had to play through mine.”
Add all of that up, DeVries said it felt like much more than just a six-point hole.
“We were down six, but it felt more like 20,” he said. “It felt like we hadn’t scored in forever. We were treading water at best.”
At that point, WVU could have given in to the weight that was bearing down upon it. The season has already felt like a long journey either because of injuries or the emotional ups and downs.
Having lost six of its last eight games going into this matchup, WVU was in the midst of watching its NCAA tournament bubble burst with each second that ticked off the Coliseum clock at that point.
“Even if you’re down, you’re never supposed to think the game is over until it’s over,” Small said. “It was a tough stretch for us. We’re all competitors at the end of the day. We’ve been down before and have proven we can come back. Whenever you’re down, you’re supposed to fight.”
The fight came through Joseph Yesufu scoring on a drive to the basket and Jonathan Powell nailed a 3-pointer in the corner to cut the Bearcats’ lead to 47-46.
Cincinnati helped the cause by missing free throws during that stretch and then got nailed with a shot clock violation.
WVU kept coming. Small nailed two free throws and Amani Hansberry — he had a double-double with 17 points and 13 rebounds —hit a three and then assisted on another 3-pointer from Powell, who had 12 points.
Suddenly, that bubble was not bursting on the Mountaineers, a 62-53 lead with 17 seconds left seemingly was enough to call it a night.
Then Powell missed a free throw, Cincinnati raced down the court and Dan Skillings Jr. banked in a 24-footer.
Then Skillings intercepted Yesufu’s inbound pass and somehow nailed another 3-pointer that cut the lead to 62-59.
There were 3.7 seconds left and WVU called a timeout after not being able to inbound the ball again.
Out of the timeout, Yesufu’s pass hit off teammate Sencire Harris’ hands and went off his knee, giving the ball back to the Bearcats.
“For us, it felt like we almost put the game away,” DeVries said. “Like we told them in the locker room, that’s why you never, never take for granted until that clock hits zero, because there are just so many things that could happen.”
Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller drew up a play, while the referees reviewed Harris’ play to see if he was the last to touch the ball going out of bounds.
Moments later, Day Day Thomas somehow inbounded the ball to a wide open Betsey at the top of the key.
“That was my fault,” Small said. “I’ve got to do a better job staying with my man in late-game situations.”
Betsey’s shot was straight on and looked like it was going to send the game into overtime.
It fell just short.
“That was pretty incredible to even be in that position when you’re down nine with hardly any time left in the game,” Miller said. “I don’t think you can ask for a better shot than that from a really good shooter.”
