West Virginia flips script after another late-game slip

Jevon Carter’s season-high 24 points loomed large in West Virginia’s 83-74 double-overtime win against Texas Tech.

 

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — This time No. 9 West Virginia survived a late-game meltdown.

Jevon Carter had 24 points in a 45-minute performance and Daxter Miles scored on two put-backs in double-overtime as the Mountaineers held off Texas Tech 83-74 on Saturday.

Elijah Macon produced a season-high 17 points and 12 rebounds for West Virginia (21-6, 9-5 Big 12), which won despite coughing up a six-point lead in the final 1:12 of regulation.

That came in the wake of squandering a 14-point cushion in the final 2:45 on Monday at Kansas, a crushing collapse that left the Mountaineers 0-3 in overtime this season.

BOXSCORE: West Virginia 83, Texas Tech 74

The deja vu felt tangible when Texas Tech (17-10, 5-9) extended the game at 64-all on Keenan Evans’ fall-away 3-pointer with 4.6 seconds left in regulation.

“I was just thinking, ‘OK, it’s time to go. We can’t keep losing in overtime,’” Miles said.

West Virginia’s junior guard finished with 11 points, including a second-overtime tip-in among a sea of hands. (“I don’t know how it went in. Just effort, man.”) Miles’ follow-up dunk on the next possession put West Virginia ahead 78-72.

Unlike their overtime loss at Texas Tech, or the OT disaster vs. Oklahoma, or the weak finish against Oklahoma State — the Mountaineers stabilized enough to prevail Saturday.

MORE: Photo gallery from the game

In a scintillating matchup of point guards, Carter enjoyed a season-best scoring output and grabbed seven rebounds. Yet he had his hands full defensively against Evans, whose end-of-regulation 3 was closely contested after West Virginia opted against fouling.

Evans poured in a career-best with 28 points and had another chance to play hero at the end of the first overtime. But Carter’s defense was unyielding and Evans dribbled out the clock before hoisting an 18-foot airball.

“I felt like I played the same defense both times,” Carter said. “The first one, he hit it — tough shot. The second one, he missed it — tough shot.”

Desperately needing to bolster their NCAA resume, the Red Raiders shot 1-of-8 in the second overtime and fell to 0-7 in Big 12 road games.

Coach Chris Beard’s squad slipped to 2-4 against the Big 12’s top three teams Kansas, Baylor and West Virginia, though five of those games were winnable.

“If you asked them about Texas Tech, they would tell you we’re one of the best 68 teams in the country,” Beard said. “Now whether we do our part and end up having a resume worthy is yet to be determined. You guys saw it — we have a good team.”

Niem Stevenson scored 17 points for Texas Tech, though he was scoreless after intermission and missed his final five shots.

Tarik Philip finished with 15 points, six assists and four steals for West Virginia, capping the day by making four straight free throws in the final 43 seconds.

During an all-or-nothing second half, the Red Raiders committed 13 of their 20 turnovers while shooting 68 percent from the floor.

Carter’s standout offensive performance seemingly had the Mountaineers in good shape to ice the game in regulation. During a 14-4 second-half surge, he freed himself for a step-back 17-footer and added a turnaround jumper after pump-faking Texas Tech’s top shot-blocker Zach Smith.

Macon’s impact was huge enough Beard labeled him “the difference-maker.” During one frantic sequence in which the big forward looked winded and raised his hand in search of a substitution, he stayed on the floor and scored three straight baskets on post spins to put West Virginia up 56-49.

“That’s the Elijah Macon that everybody thought we got when we recruited him,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.

Stevenson’s 5-of-7 first-half shooting included 3-of-3 from long range. On four occasions he either tied the score or put Texas Tech ahead, including a late 3-pointer that led to a 33-31 halftime edge.

To foul or not up 3?

Huggins decided not to have WVU foul leading 64-61 in the final 14 seconds of regulation, a move that backfired when Evans — a 46-percent 3-point shooter — sank the equalizer from 22 feet.

“I think you have the chance to lose if you foul,” Huggins said. “The worst that was going to happen is they were going to tie the game and we go to overtime. That was a hard shot. (Evans) made that one but he’s not going to make a real high percentage of those.”

Quotable

“We wanted to put the ball in Keenan’s hand and let him play.” — Beard after his star guard ran off the final 19 seconds of the first overtime before settling for a poor shot

“You can’t touch him. You can’t get too close. You don’t want to get beat and you don’t want to give up a shot.” — Carter discussing being on an island against Evans in late-game situations

Notes, numbers, etc.

The Red Raiders entered Saturday committing the 19th-fewest turnovers nationally (10.8 per game). … Press Virginia was forcing 21.8 turnovers per game, tops in Division I. … Texas Tech dropped its ninth straight Big 12 road game dating back to last February. … More than 14,000 were on hand for West Virginia’s fifth sellout of the season.





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