West Virginia blows last chance opportunity, falls to No. 20 Texas

Nine seconds separated West Virginia and the end of a devastating losing streak.

Malik Curry took the inbound and dribbled to his left, eyeing a hole. He took a step back and pulled up to shoot — hoping to put the Mountaineers back in the win column.

The orange sphere descended on the rim, where it slowly rolled off.

It was the last true offensive opportunity the Mountaineers would have Saturday afternoon after fumbling away a second-half, double-digit lead to No. 20 Texas. The Longhorns ultimately escaped with a 82-81 win.

From the opening tipoff, a fast start gave the Mountaineers an early lead. Taz Sherman opened the game by knocking down a jumper, which was quickly followed by contributions from Kedrian Johnson and Isaiah Cottrell.

Soon after, the Longhorns put together a 10-2 run of their own, pushing through to take the lead.

Around halfway through the half, Texas forward Brock Cunningham was called for a flagrant foul after shoving Curry to the ground. Curry was restrained by an official as he attempted to get in Cunningham's face, and Cunningham was later ejected.

Still, Texas consistently stayed ahead by at least two possessions as the first-half clock ticked away and entered halftime holding the 43-37 lead.

Three minutes into the second half, after continuous chipping away from West Virginia, the Mountaineers tied the score at 47.

Seconds later, two free throws from Gabe Osabuohien gave WVU its first lead since the early first half.

Texas appeared deflated, and the Mountaineers capitalized. Shooting 56% in the second half, they would eventually build a double-digit lead over the Longhorns — ultimately entering the game's home stretch in the driver's seat.

However, with four and a half minutes to go, a 3-pointer from Texas guard Jase Febres put the Longhorns back on top.

For every West Virginia basket, Texas appeared to counter. An and-one by Curry with 11 seconds remaining gave the Mountaineers' their closest chance to come out in front, but they could not make that final basket to secure a victory.

Curry led the Mountaineers in scoring with 27 points. He was followed up by Taz Sherman (13) and Gabe Osabuohien (12).

With six, Isaiah Cottrell led the team in rebounds.

West Virginia (14-14) leaves town for a one-game roadtrip at Oklahoma. Tuesday's game will tipoff at 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN2.

----------

• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.

• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.

• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel

• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @JaredSerre

•Like us on Facebook