West Virginia knocks off Stanford 82-77 in overtime in the Crown
West Virginia rallied late to send the game to overtime and knock off Stanford 82-77 in the quarterfinal of the College Basketball Crown inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Guard Honor Huff had 21 points, guard Treysen Eaglestaff scored 18 points, forward Brenen Lorient scored 14 points, forward DJ Thomas had 8 points and forward Chance Moore scored 8 points.
The Mountaineers led 35-29 at halftime, but Stanford had control until late with West Virginia sending the game to overtime with a furious comeback in the final minute and then winning the game.
For the Cardinal freshman Ebuka Okorie scored 34 points.
The Mountaineers opened with a quick 5-0 lead a minute into the game before the Cardinal would get on the board at the 17:39 mark of the first half. West Virginia wouldn’t score again until almost a four minute drought to make the score 7-4 at the 14:45 mark.
A Moore layup pushed the advantage out to 11-6 as both teams struggled to generate offense in the half court after that opening flurry by the Mountaineers.
The Cardinal used a 7-0 run to take a 15-13 lead, but West Virginia answered right back on the other end to move ahead by a single point at the under eight minute timeout. The two teams would then exchange baskets on several trips down the floor with the Cardinal tying the game at 20 before the Mountaineers again surged ahead on an Eaglestaff three-pointer.
West Virginia had a stretch making seven consecutive shots to move ahead 29-23 and the lead would grow to 33-25 with 2:23 remaining in the half.
However, the Cardinals would quickly cut that in half before West Virginia would add a basket to take a 35-29 lead into the halftime break.
The Mountaineers opened the second half by stretching the lead to 41-33 through the first two minutes but the Cardinal again cut that deficit in half. West Virginia would again answer again to push the lead back out to eight points, but once again Stanford would trim the deficit to 45-41.
The Cardinal cut the deficit to just 47-46, but the Mountaineers would score on back-to-back trips to push the edge out to five points. Stanford would then score seven straight to take a 53-51 lead.
The Cardinal led 59-55 with 6:31 left in the game and the Mountaineers were able to trim it down to two on multiple possessions but Stanford was able to answer to keep it at four.
The Stanford lead would grow to 65-57 before a pair of Huff free throws made it a six point game with just under three and a half minutes left. The Mountaineers would narrow the deficit to four with 1:03 left and would then cut it down to 67-65 with 12.1 remaining.
After one free throw, Huff was fouled on a three-pointer sending him to the line with a chance to tie the game and he would make all three to make it 68-all with 3.5 left sending the game to overtime.
Stanford would strike first in overtime to take a 71-68 lead on a three-point play, but the Mountaineers would answer with a three-point play of their own to even the game up. Then two more free throws would give the Mountaineers a 73-71 lead.
After Stanford tied the game with two free throws of their own, Huff would score a basket to put West Virginia back out front and then add two more free throws to make it 77-73.
Stanford would answer once again, but Huff would hit another free throw to keep the edge at 80-77 with 1:23 left. The Cardinal would have the ball out of a timeout, but missed the shot and Lorient would go the line with 14.9 left where he hit one to make it 81-77 but off a missed free throw he got his own rebound.
Huff would then hit a free throw to make it 82-77.
The Mountaineers will now move onto the semifinal of the Crown against the winner of Rutgers and Creighton. The game will be held 4 p.m. Saturday
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