West Virginia edges Texas Tech in OT

Juwan Staten delivered 25 points and five assists as WVU pulled out an 89-86 overtime win at Texas Tech.

 

LUBBOCK, Texas — Live updates throughout Monday night’s West Virginia-Texas Tech game from inside the United Spirit Arena, which began as the perfect BCS pre-party but has stretched into OT:

WEST VIRGINIA 89, TEXAS TECH 86 (FINAL)
Staten closes with 25 points and five assists, while Harris scored 18, Henderson 16 and Williams with 12 for WVU (10-5, 2-0). Texas Tech (8-7, 0-2) got 18 points from Tolbert, 17 from Gotcher and 15 from Crockett. Tech outrebounded WVU 35-26.
WEST VIRGINIA 89, TEXAS TECH 86 (FINAL)
Gary Browne hits his first free throw but misses the second, leaving the door ever so slightly ajar for Texas Tech to go the length of the court for a tying 3-pointer. After a timeout with 3.8 seconds left, Tech throws it the length of the court, where it’s tipped away with 3.4 seconds left. Crockett’s pressured 3-point try from the corner is no good and WVU survives.
WEST VIRGINIA 87, TEXAS TECH 83 (0:35 in overtime)
After the Red Raiders can’t convert, WVU milks the shot clock with the ball in Staten’s hands. He works for a pull-up jumper near the foul line and is fouled by Robert Turner, who makes his “WHAAAAAAAT?” face. Staten hits both foul shots to improve to 5-of-8 at the line.
WEST VIRGINIA 85, TEXAS TECH 83 (1:36 in overtime)
Big blow for the Red Raiders as Tolbert (18 points, 12 rebounds) draws his fifth foul. It wasn’t blatant but the body bump might have altered Watkins’ putback. WVU’s freshman center made 1-of-2 foul shots after Tolbert checked out.
TEXAS TECH 77, WEST VIRGINIA 77 (End of regulation)
Henderson appeared to force a 3-pointer from 24 feet, but it was dead-solid perfect and WVU drew even with 18 seconds left. (He’s got 16 points now.) The Mountaineers needed one stop to force overtime, and they survived despite Dusty Hannahs getting a sweet look from the right wing with 4 seconds left.
TEXAS TECH 75, WEST VIRGINIA 74 (0:49 second half)
After WVU reclaimed the lead on Watkins’ putback of a Williams missed free throw, it seemed the momentum might have swung back in the Mountaineers’ favor. But alas, Crockett makes a nice alley-oop feed to Tolbert, who lays it in over a helpless-looking Henderson. Now WVU takes timeout to set up something on offense.
TEXAS TECH 71, WEST VIRGINIA 68 (2:55 second half)
Crockett completes the three-point play out of a timeout and Texas Tech is on a 10-2 run to claim its first lead of the second half. Red Raiders are 14-of-21 shooting in the half and led 29-21 in rebounding. (WVU shooting 60 percent since the break but has watched an 11-point lead evaporate.) Crockett now has 12 points, seven of them in the last three minutes after climbing out of Tubby Smith’s doghouse.
WEST VIRGINIA 60, TEXAS TECH 59 (6:48 second half)
Texas Tech has made 11 of its last 16 shots to pull within a point, and it’s doing this with no help from leading scorer Jaye Crockett, who has played only one minute this half and is 1-of-2 overall from the floor tonight.
WEST VIRGINIA 53, TEXAS TECH 52 (11:52 second half)
Dusty Hannahs just temporarily morphed into an All-Big 12 player, scoring 10 points in the span of 3:07 for Texas Tech. With two 3s and a couple baskets off backscreens, who saw this kind of splurge coming? He even started some playful jawing while guarding Harris on the defensive end. Sometimes inspiration comes from the unlikeliest  of places.
WEST VIRGINIA 48, TEXAS TECH 38 (15:39 second half)
Not sure what Tubby envisioned coming out of halftime, but three consecutive turnovers probably wasn’t it. Meanwhile, Harris has finally got something going offensively—he buried a 3 from a step away from Huggins and then banked in a 16-footer from the opposite side. Judging from his gigantic grin and head shake, no way did he intend to hit glass.
WEST VIRGINIA 39, TEXAS TECH 33 (Halftime)
Staten leads WVU with 11 points on 4-of-6 shooting, but he’s only 3-of-6 at the foul line. Henderson has 10 points, three rebounds, three assists and a block, while Devin Williams has six points and four boards. Watkins has five boards and a blocked shot. … Tolbert enjoyed a strong half for Texas Tech with 10 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.
WEST VIRGINIA 39, TEXAS TECH 33 (Halftime)
After a Tubby Smith timeout, Toddrick Gotcher sends Tech into the half with momentum by swishing a 3 with 1.3 seconds left. The sophomore has two of his team’s three 3-pointers. Red Raiders are 3-of-19 from deep, and WVU is 4-of-10. Tech held to 37.9 percent shooting overall, while West Virginia stands at 48.4 percent.
WEST VIRGINIA 31, TEXAS TECH 26 (3:14 first half)
The Mountaineers had missed their last 9-of-12 from the floor before Henderson made a pull-up jumper over 5-foot-9 Luke Adams in transition. That also ended a string of four consecutive misses for Henderson, including a couple forces.
WEST VIRGINIA 27, TEXAS TECH 22 (7:04 first half)
Remi Dibo just picked up his third foul—quite an accomplishment in only four minutes of action—so West Virginia’s sixth man is done for the half. The rebounding is drastically one-sided in Texas Tech’s favor, 14-7, but the turnover bugaboos are biting the home team, which has eight to WVU’s two.
WEST VIRGINIA 20, TEXAS TECH 14 (10:55 first half)
Texas Tech has been a tad sloppy, committing five turnovers in nine minutes. The Mountaineers are shooting better than 53 percent already have points from six players, and Henderson has helped that cause with three assists. (Recall that WVU shot 56 percent in this building last season.)
WEST VIRGINIA 13, TEXAS TECH 11 (14:42 first half)
A flurry of a start, with both teams getting into transition. Terry Henderson has eight quick points, including two 3s and a nice up-and-under drive off a block by Brandon Watkins. Speaking of Watkins, he has a bucket and offensive rebound, but also fell asleep on the defensive glass and allowed Kravic to stroll down the lane for a putback. Enter Remi Dibo, exit Watkins.
PREGAME NOTES
There’s no Jonathan Holton on the floor during warmups, countering speculation the junior college transfer might finally suit up for the Mountaineers in the season’s 15th game. Whether the 6-foot-7 forward appears this season at all depends upon the NCAA, and also on how successful WVU is during the interim. Put simply, if West Virginia keeps winning and thereby betters its chances of postseason play, Bob Huggins might obviously be inclined to add Holton—and his rebounding presence—to the mix. But if WVU falters, it might not be worth burning a season of eligibility even if Holton eventually is cleared.
PREGAME NOTES
While Texas Tech (47.5 percent) shoots better from the floor overall than WVU (46.2 percent), the Mountaineers (39.7 percent) are far more dangerous from 3-point range than the Red Raiders (31.3 percent). West Virginia has attempted 290 shots from 3, while Tech has taken just 208. … Tech has been better from the foul line, 74.5 percent to 70.1, but WVU gets there more frequently, 15.9 attempts per game to 14.4.
PREGAME NOTES
Forward Jaye Crockett could be on tap for a benchmark night, needing 17 points to reach 1,000 for his career. He’s a decent 6-foot-7 senior who leads Tech at 14.1 points per game. Fellow forward Jordan Tolbert also is pursuing 1,000, though if he reaches it tonight we’ll be talking of him in Wilt terms—seeing as how the junior needs 117 to get there.
PREGAME NOTES
Texas Tech is 1-3 all-time against West Virginia, and the win came in last season’s finale—71-69 at the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City. Seven-footer Dejan Kravic provided the game-winning bucket on a tip-in with 0.4 seconds left. He’s back for his senior year and has been playing well the past three weeks. … WVU won both regular-season meetings in 2012-13 by margins of 77-61 in Lubbock and 66-64 in Morgantown. … The only meeting before last season was the 2005 NCAA tournament in Albuquerque, when West Virginia beat Bobby Knight’s crew 65-60. Ah, seems like only yesterday.






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