MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — When Amani Hansberry accounted for consecutive field goals over a stretch of 57 seconds in the second half of Tuesday’s matchup with BYU, West Virginia led 62-56 and was in prime position to secure an important victory in a contest between teams that entered with identical overall and conference records.
Instead, the offensive-minded Cougars scored on seven of their final nine possessions, running off seven points in 42 seconds and then the final five of the contest to rally for a 73-69 victory inside the WVU Coliseum.
“The biggest thing was we lost a lot of our discipline keeping the ball in front of us and they were playing downhill the whole second half,” WVU head coach Darian DeVries said. “Then we’re in rotations, which you cannot get in against that team. Now it’s layups and kick out threes.”
Egor Demin, BYU’s 6-foot-9 freshman point guard, accounted for a conventional three-point play with 6:11 remaining to cut his team’s deficit in half. After Richie Saunders made one free throw and Mihailo Boskovic drained a three-pointer off the wing, the visitors were in front 63-62 for their first second-half lead with 5:29 to play.
“More than anything, we tried to make sure we had the right groupings out there,” BYU head coach Kevin Young said of what transpired during a timeout with his team trailing 62-56. “I was very cognizant of having Mihalio out there to get our spacing and passing right.”
Demin scored in the paint at the 4:45 mark to make it nine straight BYU (16-8, 7-6) points, and after the Mountaineers pulled even on Joseph Yesufu’s conventional three-point play, Demin drained a triple from 5 feet behind the arc just before the shot clock expired.
“That’s just basketball,” WVU senior Toby Okani said. “At the end of the day, they made a shot and that’s how the game goes. It’s how we respond the next two possessions on defense for what determines the game. It’s not that one shot.”
Trailing by three at that point, WVU (15-9, 6-7) was still able to regain the lead once more when Okani scored four straight points, including a second-chance basket with 2:13 left that left the Mountaineers with a 69-68 lead.
West Virginia had a chance to increase the advantage, but a Javon Small turnover led to Demin being fouled on a runout. Demin, widely considered a first-round NBA draft pick in 2025, made both free throws with 58 seconds left to give his team a 70-69 lead.
“There’s obviously pressure, but this is something that me personally, and our group have been working on since the start of the season,” Demin said.
The Mountaineers still had a chance to lead late when Yesufu had a good look at a corner three, but it was off the mark.
“A wide open three. It just didn’t go in,” DeVries said. “We knew it would be hard to get Javon free. He did a good job. We had Joe and [Jonathan Powell] in the two corners and told them if they help, be ready to knock it down. He was ready. He just missed it.”
On BYU’s ensuing possession, Saunders found Boskovic rolling to the rim, and the 6-foot-10 reserve scored while being fouled. Boskovic made the free throw for a four-point lead with 9 seconds left, sealing the Cougars’ third road win this season and ensuring they stopped a two-game skid.
“I’ve been trying to find more minutes for him. He gives us a different look at the five because of his skill set,” Young said.
BYU led for only 1:50 of the first half and faced an early 14-7 deficit after Okani’s personal 6-0 run.
The Cougars ran off the next eight points to gain their second lead, but WVU was back in front 24-20 after a Powell triple.
Seldom-used reserve Trey Stewart made a three 17 seconds before halftime to give BYU a 32-31 lead, before Powell canned an uncontested corner trey just before time expired to send the Mountaineers into halftime with a two-point advantage.
Stewart, who entered with nine points and had scored in only three games all season, scored eight on 3-for-3 shooting.
“They had multiple guys in different situations step in and make a big play,” DeVries said.
BYU had 38 bench points to WVU’s 18.
“A gutsy win by our guys,” Young said. “Probably our best team win of the year in terms of guys staying ready, not sulking or pouting on the beach and being able to come in and contribute.”
Demin scored a game-high 16 points and Kanon Catchings added 11 in the win.
BYU had 10 of the game’s 15 offensive rebounds as well as a 35-25 edge on the boards.
Okani led the Mountaineers with 16 points, marking the first time this season he’s been West Virginia’s top scorer.
Yesufu and Powell added 11 apiece, though Yesufu’s came on 4-for-14 shooting, while Powell made 4-of-7 shots.
Small entered averaging 18.9 points and finished with nine points and nine assists. He made half of his four shots and attempted only one after halftime.
“We’d always love to get Javon more shots,” DeVries said. “We tried a lot of different stuff to free him up and we weren’t able to get him free. If he’s able to get nine assists, it says he’s doing a good job of making the plays available because of how they’re guarding him.”
West Virginia, which remains without consecutive wins since January 4, led by six on four separate instances in the second half.
The Mountaineers made 14-of-25 shots after halftime, while the Cougars shot 15 for 27 in the second half.
“Offensively, we made the right plays from that perspective,” DeVries said. “Our second half, it comes down to our defense again. We come out of halftime scoring and kept exchanging baskets and we weren’t able to get that thing pushed out to double digits.”