MORGANTOWN — Every trick in the book was attempted. Every possibility was exhausted.
Yet WVU point guard Javon Small could not shake free Tuesday, as BYU came into the Coliseum and pulled out an entertaining 73-69 victory.
Entertaining to everyone but maybe Small and the Mountaineers (15-9, 6-7 Big 12), who have now lost five of their last seven Big 12 matchups and are inching closer to Bubbletown where it concerns the NCAA tournament.
“This was a game we should have put away,” was the short end of it from WVU head coach Darian DeVries. “We didn’t do that, because our defense wasn’t what we needed it to be.”
Two things kept that from happening: BYU point guard Egor Demin — a 6-foot-9 monster with ball-handling skills — and how the Cougars (16-8, 7-6) defended Small.
Demin’s story came in the second half, where he had 14 of his 16 points, including a 26-foot prayer of a 3-pointer at the end of the shot clock that gave BYU a 68-65 lead with 3:47 left.
He also nailed two free throws with 57 seconds remaining that gave the Cougars the lead for good, 70-69.
“He’s a good player and on a lot of the NBA draft boards,” DeVries said. “I thought we did a good job on him in the first half, but in the second half, we got too aggressive. Now he was playing downhill a lot.
“We couldn’t keep him out of the paint, and once he gets into the paint, he’s tall and long, so he can finish or drop it off or kick it out for threes.”
The second half of the equation began with BYU’s Mawot Mag, who was able to use his quickness and 6-7 frame to hound and follow Small all over the court.
“He’s one of the guys I’m really impressed with in this league, so we put a ton of time and energy into studying his game,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said of Small. “The credit goes to Mawot Mag, along with the rest of the guys behind him. (Small) is a tough cover one-on-one, so we wanted to try and defend him with more than one guy.”
The result was Small attempted a season-low four shots, just one in the second half.
Small made it, a 3-pointer right out of the gate to start the second half that gave WVU a 37-32 lead. The remaining 19 minutes and 38 seconds were a different story.
“That’s insane. I didn’t even realize it, honestly, until I looked at the state sheet,” Young said about Small only getting one shot in the second half.
Make no mistake, Small impacted the game in other ways. He tied a season high with nine assists. He went 4 of 5 from the foul line.
This was not a disappearing act from WVU’s star point guard, but rather a superb defensive effort by BYU, which ended a two-game losing streak with the victory.
And DeVries likely emptied out his playbook trying to find something to get Small open. It even looked like Small was used as a decoy at times, although DeVries said that wasn’t the case.
“There were a few possessions where it may have looked like that,” DeVries said. “He wasn’t able to get the catch, so he went off to the ball. He was tired. That was part of it, too.”
The game was close throughout. BYU held a lead for less than six minutes. WVU never held a lead larger than seven points.
Demin won it by deflecting a pass in the final minute thrown by Small and began to race down the court before he was fouled by Toby Okani.
He sank both free throws. BYU sealed it with a pick-and-roll play with forward Mihailo Boskovic with nine seconds remaining. Boskovic scored and was fouled. His free throw provided the final score.
“We were switching everything and two guys messed up a switch,” DeVries said. “Two guys went with the ball and he rolled and there was nobody there.”
Okani provided an offensive spark for the Mountaineers. He scored 16, his second time in double figures against a Big 12 team this season.
Small was held to nine points, just his second time below 10 this season. Jonathan Powell and Joseph Yesufu each scored 11.
