West Virginia runs out of gas in 94-90 overtime loss to Kansas State
West Virginia used a major second half run to erase a 25-point second half deficit but ran out of gas in overtime falling to Kansas State 94-90 Monday night.
The Mountaineers used a 31-9 run in the second half to take a lead, but the Wildcats were able to send the game into overtime and close things out in the extra period.
Guard RaeQuan Battle scored 28 points, guard Kerr Kriisa scored 25 points and forward Patrick Suemnick scored 10 points as the West Virginia players in double figures.
The Mountaineers now sit at 9-19 and 4-11 in the Big 12 Conference as the program has lost six of their last seven games down the stretch.
A jumper by Battle got West Virginia on the board first on the opening possession after a stop on the other end, but the Wildcats would answer with a three to retake the lead.
Both teams started out the gates slow, but another Kansas State three-ball would give the home team an 8-4 edge through the first five minutes of the first half.
A layup by Patrick Suemnick would snap an over four-minute field goal drought by the Mountaineers and another Suemnick basket would tie the game at 8-all.
Kansas State hit their third three of the first half to take a 14-13 lead at the 10:31 mark as the Wildcats started to settle in on the offensive end.
Both teams were around 30-percent from the floor, but Kansas State get hot and use the three-pointer to push their advantage to out to 29-18 with 5:15 left. Out of the 10 shots that the Wildcats made, six of them were from three-point range.
The lead would push out to 40-20 as the Wildcats made more three-pointers with 9 as the Mountaineers did total baskets with under two minutes left to key a 17-2 run.
While the Mountaineers would stop the run, they would enter the break trailing 48-26.
Kriisa came out of the break with a three-pointer and then Battle followed that with a basket to cut the deficit to 48-31 forcing a timeout just 57 seconds into the second half. But that run was short-lived as Kansas State would respond with yet another three to seize back the momentum.
The lead would sit around that 20-point margin for the next several minutes with the Mountaineers trailing 58-36 with 14:37 left.
After a Battle dunk, West Virginia would get some spark and use a 7-0 run and cut the lead down to 70-55 with 8:35 remaining in the game and from there the Mountaineers would start to put together a run to get back into the game.
And the lead would shrink to just 72-67 at the 4:59 mark as the Mountaineers continued to lean on the hot shooting of Battle to spearhead a 19-2 run.
A Kriisa three-ball would narrow the edge to just 74-72 as all the momentum had swung to the Mountaineers with Kansas State not making a field goal in five minutes. And after yet another stop, West Virginia would tie the game at 74-all with 2:54 left.
Kriisa would then put West Virginia ahead 77-74 on a three-pointer to give the Mountaineers their first lead since early in the contest. After an Arthur Kaluma free throw, Kriisa would hit a pair and then Kansas State would put in a putback to put the score at 79-77 with 51 seconds remaining in the game.
West Virginia would airball the ensuing shot, but Jesse Edwards was fouled although he would miss both to give the Wildcats the ball trailing just 79-77. The Wildcats would nail a pair of free throws to tie the game and give West Virginia the ball with a chance to win it but Kriisa would misfire to send the game into overtime.
Edwards would connect on a free throw to give the Mountaineers the lead, but Kansas State would connect on a three-ball to go ahead 82-80. The Wildcats would then push the edge to 85-80 with just 2:42 remaining in the extra period.
After taking an 87-81 lead, Battle would connect on another three ball and a Suemnick free throw would cut it to a single possession at 87-85 with 1:13 left on the clock. Kansas State would then score a layup to make it 89-85 and Battle would answer yet again with a three-ball to make it an 89-88 game with 34 seconds left.
After a pair of free throws, West Virginia would have a chance to tie the game but Kansas State would foul and then Kriisa would hit two only to see the Wildcats hit two more on the other end to keep it at 93-90. Battle's last attempt would rim off with 3.7 seconds left while the play was being reviewed but it was awarded to Kansas State where they'd make a free throw to win 94-90.
The loss makes West Virginia now 0-12 away from Morgantown this season. The Mountaineers will return home to host Texas Tech on Saturday at 6 p.m.
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